Shattered Dreams
by Winter's Light
Summary: AU now Tohru's memories are to be erased and Yuki is to be moved back to the main house, and Kyo, unfortunately is to be locked up. How much will Yuki and Kyo give up to see our favorite onigiri again? Full summary inside SPOILERS discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This is probably going to be my first and last Kyoru story. Oh my gosh. I'm writing a Kyoru. Technically, I don't hate this pairing. I just happen to like Yukiru better. So…I'm basing this story on the manga. So…here's the new fic! Oh yeah, and here:

**Full Summary:** Tohru's memories are to be erased. Kyo is to be locked up and Yuki…back to the main house. How much will Yuki and Kyo give up to just to see our favorite riceball again? Will they work together to escape? Will it work? How will Akito react? And is Akito really who "he" seems? What about Shigure? What intentions does he have for Tohru? Does Yuki really hate Kyo? And what about Kyo? Will Haru help? Or another Juunishi? Will it be a happy ending? Or will everything go wrong?

**WARNING: SPOILERS FROM CHAPTERS 96 AND ON FOR THE WHOLE STORY! **

**YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not and can not own Fruits Basket. Too bad…

Chapter 1:

It was just any other wonderful and sunny day. It was almost summer and that meant that there would be swimming, sun, beaches, and fun! To most people, that was what it meant. To the Kaiwia High School students, today meant their last day of school—ever. Today meant that there would be no more school.

No more lunch with their friends. No more hanging around in the hallways. No more sitting outside, eating lunch. No more time…just...being a kid. No more making the teachers mad. No more homework. Things were going to change drastically.

That was what it meant on Graduation to these Kaibara High School students.

But to fourteen people…it was almost like the end of the world. Today was the day. The final day. After today, everything happy or good or pure…was gone. Maybe forever.

No more happiness. No more laughing. No more pure and genuine smiles. No more Tohru Honda. Today was Graduation and it was final. Today was the last day they could try and break the curse…and it failed.

In Shigure Sohma's house, there was the usual running of water, sweet aroma of breakfast, and the usual clacking of dishes. Everything seemed normal, yet the whole house lacked the happiness and the warmth and light.

It lacked Tohru's humming, Yuki's smiles, Shigure's cheerful voice and even Kyo's yelling. The whole house was cold. Even Yuki – who was a well-known deep sleeper - was the first one to climb down the stairs. The sound of running water stopped and the brunette greeted the boy.

"Ah! Hello Yuki-kun! Good morning!" she said, too cheerfully, "What are you doing up so early?" She was drying a dish while speaking, but Yuki could tell that her voice and smile were strained.

"Good morning Honda-san," he answered and walked over to his designated seat and sat down. "I…I guess I couldn't sleep…" he answered quietly and smiled sadly. There was an awkward silence. Only the movements of Tohru's rag in her hand as she dried the pans were heard before Yuki spoke again. "This is it…isn't it?" he asked suddenly.

Tohru stopped and looked up at Yuki. He was looking at the table with great interest. Tohru turned her head to look out the window and nodded. "Yes…I guess so…" And she, too, smiled sadly.

"But…you know. I'm grateful…" he started again. Tohru stared at him this time.

"Eh? What do you mean?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I'm grateful…that you came into our lives. You helped me see that…Kyo isn't so bad. I can deal with my brother better than I know…and you helped us… I can't really describe how you helped us…but you did. And I'm grateful.

"You also helped me…in many ways you'd never know… Thank you so much." Yuki looked up from the table and smiled at Tohru. She only smiled back, but kept on listening.

"And at the same time, I'm feeling regret. I'm sorry that we had to bring you into all the dark secrets of the Sohma's. I'm sorry that we have to erase your memories. I'm sorry that you had to suffer…" he finished slowly and started to tap his fingers.

"Yuki-kun…" the brunette answered as she fought her tears and tried to find words. "I-I'm so happy that I met the Sohma's! You don't have to be sorry about it…thank you though," she sniffed with each chapter, "And…I didn't have to suffer…" her tears came pouring out of her eyes like running water as she reached out for Yuki's hand.

He looked up when she picked his hand up. "I'm glad that I met you…thank you…" she said to him. Yuki smiled and said, "I'm glad…but… I think you should wash up. Kyo will kill me if he sees you with puffy eyes and me here…" he added bluntly.

Tohru's eyes made contact with Yuki's and she nodded and smiled. "Ah! You're right! What if Kyo-kun gets mad at me! Oh no! What about the Graduation pictures! Uo-chan and Hana-chan will kill me if they see my pictures with puffy eyes!" she started to panic and ran up the stairs and into the bathroom, making sure that she didn't slam the doors.

Yuki smiled and watched her run up the stairs. When she was gone, he looked at around the kitchen and said softly to himself, "Thank you…" _Honda-san…you've done so much for us. But…what have I done to help her? What should I do so that Honda-san doesn't have to suffer? _His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps going down the stairs.

"Huh? Yuki-kun?" asked the grown man as he stretched his arms out and yawn. "What are you doing up so early?" Yuki only scowled and answered.

"I could ask you the same thing…" he said only to narrow his eyes. Shigure began to sniff around the kitchen at the aromas while Yuki watched. _What are you planning, Shigure! This isn't a game. _He thought to himself as he tried to sort out who Shigure really was. "Shigure." He said sharply. Shigure stopped sniffing around and turned around to look at his younger cousin.

"What is it?" he asked smiling. _His usual tactic…_ Yuki thought to himself. He narrowed his eyebrows and continued. "What are you planning?"

Shigure was caught. Hook, line and sinker. Right on the mark. But Shigure faked his innocence. "W-What are you talking about?" he asked, laughing nervously. He then continued to look at the cooked food.

"You know very well what I'm talking about." He answered. Before Shigure could answer, there was another raid of footsteps and Tohru appeared at the doorway.

"H-Hello!" she said, gasping for air. She looked in at the disgruntled Yuki who was trying to smile and a cheerful and relieved Shigure and asked, "Am I interrupting something?" Nervously, may I add. Her eyebrows turned into a frown and she started to panic, but Yuki beat her to it.

"Ah! Oh no Honda-san. It was nothing," Yuki replied first. He smiled at her and then glared at Shigure. "By the way…where's Kyo?" he asked, cocking his head to one side. Tohru smiled and answered.

"I don't really know but—" and was interrupted by Shigure.

"Ah! Don't mind him. I saw him laying on his bed. Still sleeping, I suppose. But! Nevertheless, let's have some breakfast, why don't we?" he said cheerfully, making gestures along with his little 'speech'. He laughed and Tohru nodded.

--

Kyo laid in his bed, on his side and looked at his bracelet with great interest. He frowned and sighed. _Today is it…I guess…_He thought to himself as he kept looking at his bracelet. _No one will need me anymore. Not Tohru, not Shishou, not that pervert dog, not even that damn rat._..

"I…don't even deserve to live…" he mumbled to himself, as he laid an arm over his eyes. "I…don't…my fault…" he started to mumble again. "It's my fault…that…she killed herself…no. It's not my fault…GAH!" he yelled and jumped up, eyes widened.

"What time is it!" he yelled and glanced at the red digits on his clock. "WHAT! That time already? Damn!" He grabbed a shirt out of his closet, put it on, and ran down the stairs.

"WHY DIDN'T ANYONE WAKE ME UP!" was his greeting to his other housemates in the kitchen. He clenched a fist in the air and repeated, "Why didn't anyone wake me up!"

Yuki was the first one to answer. "Maybe it's because we all know that you'd rather sleep than wake up…" he teased. That only caused Kyo to be angrier.

"What the hell--? Damnit! I don't need this right now!" he yelled and ran back upstairs to shower. Yuki watched him go, thinking. _Does…Kyo know what today is?_ He thought to himself and sighed.

"Thank you Honda-san," he said, smiling as he got up from the table. He held his plate up and walked over to the sink and set the plate, bowl, and his chopsticks down in the sink. "Ah, I going to change now…" he said, but Tohru started to speak.

"Ah! Yuki-kun! Um…are you okay?" she started nervously, and blushing slightly. Yuki stopped walking. The question only confused Yuki. "Ah…I mean…your cut. Are you okay?" she asked again. She started to get up and gather her empty dishes to the sink.

"Eh? Oh…" he stopped in the middle of the sentence and stared at the floor for a while before speaking. "I'm okay. Thank you for asking," he answered and he continued to walk into the hallway and up the stairs.

Tohru watched her classmate and going-to-be-ex-housemate walk up the stairs of her home. _Her home…_

Her first ever home ever since…her mother…

She didn't even want to think about it. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.

So…today was it…the last day she would keep her memories. She had failed. She felt like crying. No more trying to break the curse. No more Yuki. No more Kyo. No more Shigure. Heck, no more Sohma's. Moreover, their unique family members. No more magic…

_I couldn't **break** the curse… Why? I've failed them. I couldn't help them._ That was it. She closed her eyes and forgot that she was still in Shigure Sohma's kitchen. Instead, she was floating in her own world…mind filled with thoughts. Selfless thoughts. "W-Why?" her voice cracked. "Why could I break the curse?" she sniffed and brought up an arm to wipe her tears away.

"It's okay, Tohru-kun," the man said and Tohru opened her eyes to find Shigure Sohma standing in front of her face with a look of concern. "Tohru-kun? Should I call Hatori?" He asked, tilting his head.

It was Tohru's cue to panic. "No, no, no! Of course not! I'm fine! Don't worry about me! I'm alright!" she started to yelled, waving her arms in front of her as if saying "no".

Shigure smiled and said, "Well…you should get dressed now. It's almost time, you know." He leaned back and watched the brunette do the following. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it when she saw the time. She started to apologize and run upstairs. And…she tripped. Over the stairs. Hit her left arm. AND the funny bone.

So now her funny bone was tingling. "A-ah! S-Shigure-san?" she asked as her arm started to "ring". "Could you help me?" she asked as the novelist walked over to her. He nodded and held out a hand. She gratefully took it and he pulled her up—all the while smiling.

"Ah, Tohru-kun… You'll have to be more careful now!" he scolded, holding up a finger and waving it slightly. He cooed and Tohru smiled and giggled. She apologized again and walked up the stairs to change. Shigure smiled to her back as she disappeared into her room.

"Tohru, Tohru, Tohru… When will you learn? Don't trust me…" he murmured to himself with a malevolent smile. He narrowed his eyes, started to hum and walked slowly into his room.

--

Yuki Sohma glared at the textile he held up in the air. Its navy blue color matched perfectly with the cap and the yellow ribbon on top of it. He surveyed it before putting it on.

Carefully, he slid it over his school uniform and smoothed out the wrinkles. He glanced at himself in the mirror and glared. "Today's it…I guess…" he said softly to himself. He reached over his table and grabbed his graduation cap (thing, I forgot what they're called) and left his room.

Time for graduation…

--

Smiling sadly at the picture he held, Momiji Sohma quietly whispered to himself, "Heute ist es…" Momiji quietly sniffed to himself.

He gazed sadly at the picture of himself smiling for joy, dressed in kimonos, in front of a brunette who was also dressed in kimono. Heck, everyone in the picture was dressed in kimonos. On the brunette's left was a red headed man and on her right was a silvery-gray haired man.

Thankfully, the picture had a plastic over because the next thing you saw on the picture were wet, clear droplets.

--

Pale and bony fingers carefully placed the kimono on himself as time progressed. He smiled – no – smirked and walked away from his mirror. Walking towards his bed, he plopped himself right on the bed and started to trace the sewn lines on the kimono.

"Dear me… Look what day it is today…," he said quietly to himself with an almost playful tone. "Ah…maybe… I'll go…" He got up and started to walk over to his closet. Grabbing a black shirt and black pants, he began to walk over to the mirror once again.

Slowly, he slipped off the kimono and placed a hand on the mirror. "Soon…Honda Tohru… Soon…" He smirked at himself in the mirror and again, slowly slipped on the black shirt and pants. He smoothed out the wrinkles and cocked his head. His lips formed one word.

"Soon…"

--

Hatori Sohma's head jolted up at the sound of his name. He had been working on his papers late yesterday night and trying hard to think of a solution about what would happen today. _I guess I fell asleep…_ he thought to himself as he yawned and scratched his head.

"Hatori!"

He hurriedly began to gather his papers up into one pile and tried on tackling his loose tie.

"Hatori!"

The voice was getting more irritated now and Hatori nearly cried out in frustration. He abandoned the papers, left his tie astray and hurried into Akito's chambers.

He ran through the hallways and quickly slid the door open. "What is it, Akito?" he yelled, as though he was frightened that "god" would be gone.

Akito looked at him as though Hatori had just said the most stupid thing ever, shrugged and looked back at what he was holding. He held up a blue tie and a red tie and said, "Hm…took you long enough. No matter, which do you think would suit me more? The red one or the blue one?"

Hatori nearly fell down at Akito's question. "W-What?" he managed to stutter out.

Akito kept staring at the ties. "Hm… I guess you're right. I do look better without a tie…," he said as though he was really thinking hard and Hatori had answered. Hatori stood there at the doorway and to make it more comical; Hatori could feel his jaw open.

The head looked at the doorway with a surprised look. He raised an eyebrow. "Well? What are you waiting for, Hatori? Come in!" he invited the doctor in. He stood up from his bed and walked over to his closet for the fourth time that day.

Hatori slowly walked in as though the whole room was booby-trapped and he was about to be seahorse meat. He looked around and started to speak as he kept walking, "Akito…did you really call me just for that?"

Akito froze while in the process of closing his closet. He turned his head to look at the doctor and smirked. "You know me to well, don't you?" He slowly walked towards the doctor as though he was flirting. "Actually…" he leaned closer towards Hatori's neck, "I asked you…" Hatori could feel Akito's hot breath on his neck, "to come… I wanted to see…" Akito leaned in closer, "how you were doing."

If someone were to walk in right now, they'd go off thinking that Akito was hitting on Hatori. But that wouldn't be right, would it? They're both guys for Pete's sake! Or are both…?

Akito was lying on Hatori's shoulder while Hatori stood, frozen at the thought of what might happen next. "A-Akito…" he spoke fearfully, "this – this isn't right!" Pushing the head away, he turned his head to look the other way.

The head stared down at the ground, bangs covering teal orbs from the doctor.

"Do you **want** to blow you cover?" he scolded and quickly covered his mouth after he harshly shouted those words. Akito winced. "A-Akito…I didn't mean – "

"Forget it," the head dismissed for once. He walked over to his bed and laid down, breathing deeply. Hatori stood there, frozen again. "Well?" he raised an eyebrow, "what are you waiting for? If you don't have anything to say, then go."

"Akito… Actually, I **do** have something to say," he said carefully choosing each word.

**Author's Note**: Whoa…how was that chapter? See that cute little purple/blue button down there in the left hand corner? Yeah, that one. Go ahead and make me happy, and click that little button.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** I'll probably take a long time to write and post each chapter, so I'll apologize in advance. I'm sorry. Done. Now…here's the chapter and again, I'll post the spoiler warning. 

**WARNING: SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE MANGA FOR THE WHOLE STORY!**

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. I wish I did, but I don't.

Chapter 2:

"Akito… Actually, I **do** have something to say," he said carefully choosing each word. He licked his dry lips and slowly walked towards Akito. Akito, on the other hand, merely looked out the window but waved in acknowledgement to go on and say what he had to say.

"I was thinking…about today…" he started carefully choosing each word. He didn't want the head to go throwing vases about. Akito only kept looking out the window, eyes bored. "I was thinking that maybe… Instead of having, Honda-kun's memories erased _today_ well… Maybe her memories could be erased **after** Hiro has had his graduation?"

There was an uncomfortable silence between them and slowly, Akito sat up, pulled his kimono upright and stood up in a creepy-like motion. Bangs covering his eyes, he walked cat-like towards Hatori—who meanwhile had sat down and was now kneeling.

"So…" he voice drawled out slowly, "you want me to wait until **after** that sheep's graduation, right?" Without letting the doctor nod or answer at all, he continued. "Well… I think not."

The doctor protested. "But! Akito! I'm sure that everyone will be um, will obey you then. If I were to erase Honda-kun's memories now, then Kyo and Yuki might not listen to you anymore. And if I were to erase her memories later on, then—"

"Silence." Hatori shut up immediately. Akito sneered at the doctor and slowly, the taunting words came out. "You only want me to wait so that maybe, **just maybe** I will **die** soon and then you won't have to listen to me anymore," his tone was mocking, "By the time it is time for Honda to have her memories erased, I will be **DEAD**! By the time, it is time for Honda to have her memories erased; _another_ Juunishi will have a useless eye.

"Everything will be the same. One of the Juunishi will be a fool and think they can run away! However, as head, I will not let them! They must talk to me before they can do whatever they want! But I won't let them!" he smirked insanely, "Just. Like. That. Insufferable. Woman.

"Honda will be begging for her memories to be erased. Just like—oh, what was her name? Oh right, **_Kana_. **She thought that she could break the curse, oh but what happened to her? Oh right, she **begged **for her memories of you and the curse to be taken away." Hatori fumed.

Akito paused for a moment and walked over to the window. His hand reached out and a tiny white bird landed on it. He walked away from the window, eyeing the bird with such an intense emotion.

"Such an innocent thing…" he murmured and his hand grew to a fist with the tiny bird tucked inside. It cried, but wasn't heard. "Such…" he breathed deeply, closing his eyes. "An innocent, naïve, creature…"

Throughout the time when Akito was talking, Hatori had been kneeling still, watching Akito, eyes widened and frightened as though Akito was about to kill. But he had finally awoke from his "trance" and moved his head to look at Akito.

"Akito! How—what are you going to do with that bird?" he asked although he knew the answer. Shigure had told him many times that Akito did this, but he had always refused to believe.

"Simple…" he replied with another smirk. He squeezed his fist and in a whispery voice, "…ending its misery." He let go and the bird fell lifelessly to the ground. He looked over at the doctor and smiled his creepy smile at the doctor's expression.

Hatori Sohma had his jaw open wide.

--

His head jolted up at the sound of yelling. He leaned against the door and listened carefully, making sure that he didn't miss a word.

"You only want me to wait so that maybe, **just maybe** I will **die** soon and then you won't have to listen to me anymore." He frowned and raised an eyebrow. _Was that…Akito? _It sounded like him.

"By the time it is time for Honda to have her memories erased, I will be **DEAD**! By the time, it is time for Honda to have her memories erased; _another_ Juunishi will have a useless eye." _Useless…eye? What's he talking about? What's going on?_ He leaned in closer.

"Everything will be the same. One of the Juunishi will be a fool and think they can run away! However, as head, I will not let them! They must talk to me before they can do whatever they want! But I won't let them!" He frowned harder if possible. "Just. Like. That. Insufferable. Woman."

_What insufferable woman?_ "Honda will be begging for her memories to be erased. Just like—oh, what was her name? Oh right, **_Kana_. **She thought that she could break the curse, oh but what happened to her? Oh right, she **begged **for her memories of you and the curse to be taken away."

Hatsuharu Sohma fumed. Kana didn't ask for it. She wanted to protect Hatori! He finally realized who was in the room with Akito. He pressed his hands onto the wood, making sure he didn't make a sound.

He made a face when he couldn't hear anything else clearly. He heard a few soft voices, thinking that it was Hatori and that he had it under control, set off back into his journey to find his room.

Pushing himself off the door, he stood up straight and scratched his head. "Where…am I?" he muttered to himself as he took off in a random direction and started to walk.

_Was that Akito? Why was he yelling? Isn't he supposed to be happy about what's going to happen today? I thought he would be happy today. And was that Hatori inside with him? But why—_His thoughts were cut off when he heard sobs coming from a room.

He turned around and faced the door. He listened to the pleading. "Why! Why! Why does Ha'ri have to do this! I—" he didn't bother to hear anymore and instead, raised a fist and knocked.

A shocked gasp came from inside, a raid of footsteps scurrying about as if trying to sort the room out and the door opened.

In the doorway, stood Momiji Sohma, of all the Sohma's…it was the one who was supposedly the most cheerful and happy-go-lucky.

_It'_s _end of the world, isn't it?_

--

He jumped at the sound of knocking on his door and gasped. _Had they heard him crying?_ His eyes widened in fright. He got up quickly and started to hide the picture in his hand.

_Where to put it? Where to put it?_ He thought frantically to himself as he searched for the right place. There was another knock on the door, and he threw the picture inside his candy drawer.

He ran over to the door, nearly tripping over a loose article of clothing in the process, and opened the door. Puffy-eyes and all.

"H-Haru!" he said, in a shocked voice. "W-what are you doing here?" Haru stared at him with such an intense amount of concern in his eyes that they started to water. "Haru?" Momiji Sohma asked, as Haru walked closer, stopping right in front of him.

Momiji felt hot, tears dripping and sliding down his face. He looked up and saw Haru staring at him with a sad and pouting face. "Today's it, huh?" he asked in a whispery voice.

The cursed-bunny nodded sadly and motioned for his cousin to come into his room. The cursed-cow followed. Once inside the room, Momiji went and picked up a box of tissues from his bed. He took up and offered his cousin.

Haru gratefully took one.

--

One look at Momiji's face told him that he had been crying. He ignored his cousin's questions and walked over to him, pressing his forehead against his cousin's.

He didn't know what took over him, what came over him. All he knew was that today was it. Today would be the last day he would see his cousins happy and smiling. Today was the last chance they had to…just **maybe** break the curse. They could have been free, but they weren't.

He started to cry.

Hatsuharu Sohma, one of the only Sohma's who didn't cry, who didn't release his emotions much when he was in his white mode, who wouldn't even cry after his girlfriend had broken up with him, who only cried after his ex-girlfriend was locked in the cat's room; was now crying.

_Who wouldn't move forward…_

He stared at his cousin and quietly, in a whispery voice, he said, "Today's it, huh?" He felt his cousin's head move up and down into a nod. He lifted his head off the bunny and saw his cousin motioning him into his room. He followed.

There, he gratefully accepted a tissue from Momiji. Momiji smiled sadly at him. "Haru…we should really be getting ready," he said quietly. Haru looked up from wiping his nose and nodded.

"Could you help me find my room, first of all?" he asked quite bluntly. Momiji giggled and nodded.

"Of course."

--

"Hiro-chan?" Sohma Hiro looked up at the sound of his name. He looked up to see a tall, young female with amber eyes and golden hair, wearing a light pink dress, decorated with lace and bows. Her hair was pulled up and two small and cute pink bows held her hair up on each side of her head. Only her worried face didn't match the outfit.

"What is it, Kisa?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. He slowed his pace and let his distant cousin catch up. He looked at her worried face once more and simply sadly asked, "It's about that Honda girl, isn't it?" He didn't have to ask anymore, because his cousin had nodded.

Her head bowed, and her eyes looking straight at the ground, taking extreme interest in them. He looked at where Kisa was looking. Soon, he heard her sniff once or twice and saw that there were wet droplets on the hard, dry, concrete.

He lifted a hand and slowly placed it on her cheek. "Kisa…" he murmured, slowly bringing her closer and enveloping her into a hug. There were slight hiccups and shaking from the cursed-tiger, but they both ignored it.

Kisa looked up and smiled. "Thank you Hiro-chan," she said quietly. "Thank you…"

Hiro smiled back. _I love you…_he thought to himself, _but I can't… Akito will punish us both, I believe…_ He didn't let that thought get him.

"C'mon, we have to get going. You want to see that Honda girl's graduation, don't you?"

He led her to the gate.

--

She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror.

_Such a twisted fate…_ she thought to herself as her mind went towards Tohru. She felt empathy for the poor girl. What she's about to face. About three years' worth of memories – gone - done the drain.

She heaved her torn, ragged, heavy - but nevertheless, her favorite backpack over her shoulder and smiled sadly. "Today is it," she murmured to herself. She walked over to her desk and packed a few needed supplies.

A bento lunch box, wrapped in an orange handkerchief decorated with a lighter shade of orange cats, neatly tied in a bow. She also packed a small envelope and a few other unimportant things.

She walked back to the mirror and pulled up her short, light brown hair into a half-ponytail and carefully placed in kitty earrings. She smoothed out her green dress, picked up her backpack filled with the things she just packed and opened the door.

"Mom! I'm going!" she shouted as a tall, short-haired woman came running from the kitchen.

"Dear? Are you sure?" she asked in a concerned tone.

Kagura Sohma nodded and said, "I have to be strong for Tohru."

She walked out the door, leaving her mother back in the kitchen, drying the dishes and smiling.

"My daughter's all grown up."

--

Kagura Sohma didn't know where to go exactly. She took off in a random direction and soon found herself taking the route where she would usually go to try find Isuzu.

She grimaced at the woman's attitude. _Since when has that woman always been so bitter? _She thought as she frowned.

She just turned the corner, and knocked twice on the door. When no one answered, she let herself in. "Isuzu-san? You there? Please answer!" she shouted as she quickly slipped her shoes off. She frowned and counted the shoes again. An extra pair…was there a guest?

Two words told her why Isuzu hadn't answered.

"I'M SORRY!"

--

She scowled and brushed her now-shoulder length hair out of her face. She adjusted her black mini skirt and pulled her thin shirt down. She paced in her room once more before stopping in front of the mirror.

Did Haru hate her now? What did Akito say? How did he react? What about the other Sohma's? Thoughts ran through her mind as she sat and hugged her knees together. She gazed sadly in the mirror again, tracing a small scar on her leg.

"Stupid… How could I even think that the curse could be broken?" she asked herself as her hands flew up to her head, holding it as if she had a headache.

Her head jolted up at the knock of a door.

She walked over and opened the door.

--

"Um…" a timid voice called from the door. His head cocked to one side, looking at his cousin. "Isuzu-san?" he asked, nervously chewing on a seam of his kimono. The door shut immediately.

"Eh?" he asked, confused. He knocked again and when no one answered, he let himself in.

He wandered through the hallways of the apartment before ending in front of a large wooden door. He knocked and no answer replied. He let himself in again and was greeted by a yell.

"Ever heard of knocking!" yelled the frustrated woman. She tossed a pillow at him, hitting him straight in the face.

Hurt, and disappointed, Ritsu Sohma left the room. He frowned. Usually, he would have gone off into his usual frantic apologizes and annoy his cousins, but today… he just didn't _feel_ like it. Like something was out of place.

He decided to wait a few minutes before going back and trying to calm down the angry horse. Instead, he walked into the kitchen, kimono and all. He surveyed the kitchen and began to work at once.

--

Her eyes widened when her cousin had left the room without a single apology. Usually, he would have gone off into his frantic position and apologize for everything he did…but today, he didn't.

She shrugged it off and continued to pity herself.

Only an irresistible aroma lured her out of her room.

--

Within minutes, the kitchen was filled with irresistible smells that could lure _any_ animal out. He smiled, finally pleased with himself for once. He backed away from the food that he had laid out and admired it.

Although there were only three dishes, each dish were filled as though every inch of it was not to be spared. One dish had a whole pile of riceballs, filling up every part of the dish. Each riceball, itself, had a different taste to it. A different flavor.

The next dish was _nira-tama_. Again, the dish was filled at every inch. The eggs were boiled and then fried again, making it a nice cooked taste. The leeks were cut and cleaned by hand and were very green.

The last dish were…just plain pancakes. Emitting a sweet aroma, the pancakes were golden brown and were every inch—looked delicious. (Oh, just great. Now I'm hungry.) There were no syrup, or butter or anything else occupying the pancakes.

Ritsu looked very please with himself indeed.

--

"R-Ritsu?" asked Rin. The brown-haired male turned around and faced his younger cousin.

Frantically, he assumed to his usual position. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I just thought that you might be hungry! I'M SO SORRRRRRRRYYYYYYY!" he frantically ran in circles around the kitchen.

Rin ignored him and instead, walked over to the dishes of food. She glanced at them and asked, "Ritsu… Did you make this?" She raised an eyebrow.

Ritsu stopped apologizing and nodded. His eyes widened with realization and he started up his stage again. "I'm so sorry I used your kitchen without asking!" he yelled, but was immediately poked by the side of his hip by Rin.

She picked up a riceball and started to chew on it. Swallowing a mouthful, she whispered, "Thank you…" Ritsu didn't seem to hear at first, but he nodded, with a thoughtful smile at the end.

"It's no problem," he answered, "…Say… Is it really true?" He decided to start a conversation. With him working at the hot springs with his mother and Rin in the hospital, they never really got time to talk much.

Rin looked up from her second riceball. "What is?" she asked after swallowing.

Ritsu looked sad at first, but answered anyways. "Tohru… Her memories…?" Only three words told Rin what Ritsu had meant.

Slowly, the woman nodded.

"I remember when you weren't this bitter, Isuzu-san…" Ritsu continued, looking out a window. Both were now sitting down on a couch, the food dishes sat in front of them on a table.

Rin froze. She choked back the rice and finally, in a hoarse voice, asked, "What do you mean?"

The cursed monkey on smiled sadly before continuing. "Whenever you were with Haru-kun… You would smile, laugh and do what normal people did. Haru-kun would care for you and I could really tell that you both loved each other…"

The cursed horse nearly spit out her rice from her third riceball. Her eyebrows furrowed together and she stood up, arms tightly on her sides. "Get. Out," she whispered immediately.

"Wah-? But Isuzu-san!" he protested.

The horse continued. "Did you not hear me! I said, GET OUT!" she yelled, pointing to the door.

The monkey didn't move. He shook his head "no" and continued to stay there.

"FINE!" she shouted, finally giving up, "If you don't move, then I WILL!" She stalked over to the door and walked outside, slamming the door shut and loud.

Ritsu Sohma slumped down to the kitchen floor, paralyzed and terrified.

**Author's Note:** Hm…this chapter is pretty short, don't you think? But nevertheless interesting, right? Right? So, this chapter is about eight pages… Is that still long enough? Anyways, I have a slight cold right now so if you want me to feel better and type up the next chapter faster, then please review.

Thank you for those who reviewed! I really appreciate it! Cookies to everyone who reviewed! (A plateful of cookies appear out of nowhere.) Here 'ya go!


	3. Chapter 3

**WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE MANGA, THIS STORY MIGHT NOT MAKE SENSE TO YOU!**

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket; only a couple of the manga, the anime and both the soundtracks.

Chapter 3:

He hummed and hummed as he worked, hanging up the newly seamed fashions and smiled when he was done.

"MINEEEEEEEEE!" he called from the room in the back in which he was in. He put his hands on his hips and waited.

A woman with pigtails, wearing thin frames, but thick lens glasses showed up almost immediately. "Yes, boss!" she shouted in an answer. Her frilly dress was the same shade of blue as ever.

"I'm going to take off for the rest of the day, alright?" he told his apprentice as he made his way to the door, flipping his hair onto the back. The woman nodded and then, with a sad face, asked, "Is today…otouto-kun's… graduation?"

The man with the long hair nodded and faintly, said, "Yes… It may seem to be a joyous day, however… Today is a sad day for the Sohma's…"

Mine Kuramae looked worried. She looked up, seeing as Ayame Sohma was taller than her, and asked with a sad tone. "Why…?" she asked faintly.

Ayame only looked sadder and replied, "Because someone very dear to us will be taken away."

--

"…So… If you wouldn't mind, please at least see Uo-chan one last time and tell her!" The screen showed a young woman with brown hair tied into two thin ponytails, squeezing her eyes together as if she was hoping – wishing for something to happen that would probably be unlikely to – and her hands were placed together as if she was praying.

Then the screen blacked out and Kureno Sohma held up the remote and clicked the T.V. set off. He gave a small sigh and took the DVD out. Today was the day of many things.

For one thing, it would be two of his cousin's graduation. For another, it would be the last day he would see his beloved, Arisa Uotani. And for the last thing, that was the last time he would see the DVD and today he would burn it.

He carefully placed the DVD into its empty case and put its lid on tightly. He looked at the empty cover and the plain back, surveying it one last time. He didn't smile. He got up, walked over to a full bookshelf and slipped it in between two books. That bookshelf was the only one that Akito would not search or take a second glance at.

He still held his hope for the Honda girl to break the curse. Perhaps he was wrong about her…

…or perhaps she needed more time.

--

He raised a fist to knock on the wood section of the sliding paper door. He waited patiently for a few moments, with his two cousins, standing beside him, quite unusually quiet, before the paper door slid open.

He cleared his throat and the person who opened it looked up.

"Oh, hello Hatori," the young man said, "I was just finishing. I think Honda-san and Kyo are getting ready and Shigure is in his study… I think." He added the last part as an afterthought. He then motioned his cousins in.

The doctor nodded and his two cousins followed inside. The doctor went immediately to Shigure's study, leaving the three cousins in an awkward silence.

Yuki Sohma looked up from the chair he was sitting in, in the same room as Hatsuharu and Momiji, and said, "I'm just going to get ready. I'm sure Hatori and Shigure will be quicker than I am," he assured them.

The two cousins nodded and Yuki climbed up the stairs towards his room.

--

She sighed as she gazed at the gown she was supposed to wear. It was so exciting! It was so nerve-racking! But it was so scary, because she knew that she would leave the Sohma's forever after graduation.

Her form slumped down as she held the gown tightly to her chest.

Sniffles were heard from her as she wiped the tears away. "Why Mom?" she asked herself as she continued. Suddenly, she looked up. _I shouldn't be sad, Mom!_ She thought to herself as he got up with a determined look.

She quickly changed and started to head back downstairs after hearing a knock from outside. As she descended the stairs, she closed her eyes, humming as happily as she could. She didn't notice Yuki and nor did he.

--

Hatsuharu and Momiji were just starting on their way to the stairs when the most peculiar thing happened.

Tohru and Yuki bumped into each other, not noticing the other's presence, and Tohru fell down the stairs, taking Yuki with her. ("Ah! Yuki-kun!") They landed with a crash at the bottom with Tohru on top of Yuki.

His eyes closed tightly, expecting to transform any minute now, but a few seconds past. He opened his eyes with a confused look on his face. And by now, Tohru was already getting up, rubbing her head, not noticing.

"I'm so sorry Yuki-kun!" she apologized quickly, still not noticing.

Yuki was still stunned. Had the curse broke? Had the bond been…? He wondered briefly as he started to get up.

And then, he transformed.

--

"Gotta hurry, gotta hurry…" the mantra stuck in the young man's mind as he made a chore of putting on his gown. "Damn…" he whispered as he struggled to find a hole where his head was supposed to go through.

"Why did they have to make things so complicated?" he asked aloud.

"Talking to yourself again?" asked a teasing voice. The voice came from out in the doorway. A figure stood, resting an arm on one side and the other on his hips. He smiled in a haunting way. His usual kimono was his attire for the day.

Kyo Sohma frowned at his cousin.

The older cousin's smile turned into a smirk. "Shouldn't you be getting ready?" he asked with a taunting smile. He leaned closer to the frame of the door.

The younger cousin's face distorted with disgust. He opened his mouth and asked, "Shouldn't **you** be getting ready?" He started to adjust the waist of his gown as he said so.

The cursed-dog's eyes narrowed in mock disappointment and pouted. He moved his arm from the doorway and placed it on his other hip and said, "Now, now, baka Kyo… You have to come up with a better come back than that."

The cursed-cat's eyes turned to slits and he lunged. "That's it you damn dog! You're going down!" He pounced off his bed and spread his arms out reaching for the older cousin.

Shigure – however – merely stepped inside the room and take a step to the right.

Kyo hit the hallway walls with a deafening boom. He rubbed his head with his right hand as his eyes squinted in pain. "Ow…" he muttered.

Then he remembered what had happened and he got up as quickly as he could, making sure that he had not obtain any injuries.

The dog only looked happier that he had gotten up.

Kyo growled at his cousin as he brushed invisible dirt off his gown and smoothed out the wrinkles. He walked back into his room, still glaring as his cousin. They stared at each other for a while, as if fighting a staring contest. Only the scream of Tohru Honda woke Kyo out of his trance.

Kyo swung his head so quickly it was a surprise that he didn't manage to break it. Ignoring Shigure's smirks and teasing, he quickly ran out of his room and saw what surprised him.

There was Tohru Honda right on top of a bewildered Yuki Sohma.

Tohru apologized, not noticing that the Sohma had not transformed. Kyo watched with wide eyes, still frozen in his spot where he had lifted a foot. The woman continued to apologize and Kyo gave a deep sigh of relief.

Maybe the curse was broken?

And then, there was the unmistaken able sound of Yuki's transformation.

The curse wasn't broken.

--

Kisa Sohma's eyes perked up as if she had sensed something. The male, about 13, standing right beside her, looked at her with curiosity and asked, "What is it, Kisa?"

The female only looked concern, puffy eyes and all, for she had been crying last night. The last night before Tohru Honda's memories would be erased. Hiro Sohma tilted his head and asked again, "What is it?"

Kisa only stared off in space for a few minutes, eyes glazing over. Her head fell limply onto Hiro's shoulder, with him asking frantically, "What! Kisa! Are you alright!"

The girl laid on his shoulder, whispering, "I'm fine… I'll explain later… Right now…" she smiled as she whispered it, "I would like to stay like this for a bit…"

Her lips curved into a soft sweet smile as the boy's surprised eyes were overtook by a small amount of happiness.

"Alright Kisa…" he said quietly, as he started to play with her hair.

--

As the bell rang, indicating that they had another customer, Ayame Sohma walked, and I mean, really, _walked_ and greeted the person.

He tried to sound enthusiastic as possible. "Hello! Welcome to—" only to stop.

He blinked once. He rubbed his eyes and blinked again.

_It can't be…_

A word slipped onto his tongue as he whispered the name.

"Kureno…?"

--

"Boss?" she called out. Right in front of her, there was a large box. She looked at it and frowned. She had been in the storage room all day, making and sewing new dresses and outfits and such… This box had gotten in the way though…

Throughout the whole day, she had been wondering what was inside the box. She couldn't help it! It just unconsciously climbed and made its way into her mind.

Oh and don't worry. She had already tried to open the box. It wouldn't open its stubborn paper lids! And she had already tried to move the darn box. It didn't move an inch.

It was the strangest thing ever.

"Boss?" she called again. Her eyebrows furrowed and her hand reached out and pushed up her glasses and brushed a long strand of sweaty hair out of her eyes. She gave up on the box and reached for a different one.

She decided to keep on storing the boxes until Ayame had made his way here. She frowned again. Usually, Ayame would be here by now…

She briefly wondered he had been.

She kneeled on the cold, hard, concrete ground and started to take out some fabric. Firstly, she chose a red silk, a plain one… Next she chose a golden stool of thick string. She smiled happily to herself as she got up and chose a few buttons to put on the outfit.

She got up, brushed the dirt off her dress and headed for the door. Pushing it open, she overheard her boss saying, or more like asking, "Kureno…?"

She wondered who that was.

--

He yawned.

He placed a hand to cover his mouth while yawning. _I should really get a hobby…_ Akito Sohma thought to himself as he walked over to a small futon and dumped himself on it.

He frowned as all the tweeting birds near his window.

Groaning, he got up and walked over to the window. "Shoo!" he shouted, waving his arms scaring off the birds. Soon, only one bird was left. He glared at it for a while before deciding to tease it.

"Soooo… You want to know what has happened to your little friend, do you?" he asked, smirking slightly. He shifted his vision to where he had killed the bird earlier and looked on the ground.

The pure white bird was lying there, dead and cold.

_Still…_

Akito shifted his eyes back to the living bird. "Do you want to know what happens when you don't obey me?" he taunted, now reaching out an arm for the bird to climb up his kimono.

The bird did exactly as Akito thought he would.

Akito cocked his head. "I'm guessing you don't… Do you…?" he asked, "You're such…an innocent little bird…" With a swift move, he knocked the bird off his arm and grabbed its neck.

He squeezed it hard.

Walking over to the other bird, he dropped the new one right next to it.

"There… Now, you two will be playmates…"

He laughed. "Should I have some more…fun?" he asked himself as he walked over to his closet. He threw old unused shirts and pairs of pants out before finally settling with his usual black outfit.

He quickly changed.

"I'm going…" he decided, "now… Let's see what the doctor has to say…" he drawled on.

He reached for his cell phone and dialed.

**Author's Note:** This is only about 6 pages… Hmmm… This will be my shortest chapter for this story yet. Anyways, thank you to **Animedreamer240** (Thanks so much Mimi! You're so awesome yourself!), **Shizmoo** (I'm updating, see? Thanks!) and **Squishy Penguin** (Yeah I guess so… I spoke too soon. BTW, did I tell you that the font is 10 in Verdana? Does that matter?) for reviewing! You each get a plushy and a monster-size chocolate chip cookie! (Throws stuff at them)

Don't be shy to review!

Oh yes… I'm not sure if you understand what "cut" Yuki had in Chapter 1… So I'll explain.

In volume 17 of so… Yuki decided to go to the main house for New Year's…leaving Kyo alone with Tohru. (See? Spoiler!) So when Akito was talking to Yuki, Akito noticed that Yuki was changing and he decided that he didn't like it. So he grabbed the nearest thing and brought it down Yuki's forehead. The "thing" was a vase. So Hatori had to treat him…but that part was kind of cute! Awww! Hatori acts all parenting! (LoL. )

And the whole Shigure deal is really true. If you read closely in volume 12, where Tohru's teacher and he talk alone, about burdening things… You can tell that Shigure is more than meet the eye. The manga-Shigure is eviler than the anime-Shigure just to tell you. The anime-Shigure is more of a parent while manga-Shigure's only goal is to get what he wants… (I'm not going to tell you what! XP)

If you don't understand anything at all, feel free to ask. I say, no questions are too stupid to ask! (Unless you say something like… "What color is the sky?" Or something like that, but I doubt you would.)

Again, don't be shy!


	4. Chapter 4

**WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE MANGA, THIS STORY MIGHT NOT MAKE SENSE TO YOU!**

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket… HOWEVER! I DO own some fruits…but no basket… TT.TT

Chapter 4:

Kagura jumped at the voice. She immediately recognized it as the screaming, apologetic cursed-monkey.

Eyes widening, she pushed the door open and walked into the hallway. "Ritchan?" she yelled as she placed a hand on one side of her mouth and continued to yell. She walked along the hallway, one arm holding onto her orange kitty backpack.

"Ritchan?" she called again. "RITCHAN!" she yelled this time.

She found him in the kitchen. Frozen, stiff in the same place, muttering "sorry" repeatedly over and over again. He was sitting with his knees up, hugging close to his chest, against the wall, and both hands were on his head. As if they were going to pull every strand of hair out.

She was stunned.

She had never seen the cursed-monkey like this… Never… Usually he'd be screaming, not muttering… And he looked horror-stricken. He was unusually pale, and shivering.

Still stunned, she slowly walked over to the horror-stricken cursed-monkey. She kneeled down and cocked head, staring at Ritsu with concern written all over in her eyes. Quietly as she could, she whispered, "Ritchan…?"

The man jumped, startled at the sudden voice closed to him. Quickly, he whispered the mantra, "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry… I'm so sorry Isuzu-san…" He rocked himself back and forth, mentally unstable.

Kagura's eyes widened even more if possible. She backed away, stunned. Hurriedly, she ran into the closest room that had a phone and dialed the one number she knew who would help.

--

As she walked away from the apartment she was staying at, she couldn't help but feel guilty for running out like that… Who knows what the monkey will be doing now?

Most likely apologizing…

…running around…

He did make all of that food for her. Because he thought she was still sick… She continued to walk in the direction of Shigure's house. She ignored all the males gawking at her, the older ladies staring at her and the younger females looking at her with extreme amounts of animosity.

Holding her head up high, she continued her way as her trail of thought followed.

What was he doing now? Was he apologizing to the wall? Wasting time? Or was he … trying to catch up…?

Suddenly she was tempted to run back to her apartment. She shook her head, short strands of rich black hair waving about, and crossed her arms. No way would she go back there while the monkey was still there.

--

Kureno Sohma nodded and stepped towards his cousin. He grabbed his cousin's collar and firmly, he said, "We need to talk."

Startled and a bit frightened, Ayame Sohma nodded and both cousins went outside.

Mine stuck her head from the room in which she was in and her eyes began to dampen.

"Oh dear…"

--

"What…do you want, Kureno?" asked the cursed-snake. He stood still, standing near the entrance of the store. Kureno's expression only stayed content.

They stood there for a while before Ayame spoke again. "Well…?" he asked, now in an impatient tone.

Kureno started to walk away. But at the very last minute, turned around and replied, "Please…buy more time… I have a feeling…that something will happen… Something very important. Something…that all the Juunishi wish for…"

His eyes turned sad for a fleeting moment before starting to walk away again.

He left his cousin with a clue. For the curse…

…just maybe…

…the curse might end a few generations earlier…

…_**maybe**…_

--

It took Tohru a few moments before she could correctly register what had happen. Her mind wandered to what had previously happened a few moments ago.

Let's see… She fell on top of Yuki.

**Right on top of him.**

**On top of him.**

**Top of him?**

**Right on _top_ of him!**

He didn't transform…for a while…

She got up, eyes still widen and stunned, she slowly reached out and picked up Yuki-mouse form. He was surprised at first, but didn't resist.

Slowly, the words came out. "Yuki-kun…?" she started as she brought him closer to her face. "Why…? Why…didn't you transform as soon as I fell on you…?"

"I don't know…" he squeaked out. He suddenly scurried off her hand, ran down her arm and ducked under his clothes. From beneath all the clothing, it was a wonder that Tohru could still even hear him.

"Uh…Honda-san? I think I'm going to transform ba—" he started but was interrupted by his sudden usual sound of transformation.

Tohru went red and turned around as quickly as she could. "I'm so sorry!" she yelled as an afterthought.

Kyo suddenly appeared right in front of her.

"Kyo-kun!" she yelled out of surprise. He gave her a weary look and said, "Come on… We should get going. We wouldn't want to be late." He gave a last tug on his gown and tried to smooth it out some more. "Stupid gown…" he muttered when he found a stray blue string near back. He couldn't reach it.

"Ah!" Tohru suddenly said, "I'll get it!" She reached onto his back and tugged at it.

It didn't come out.

Yuki appeared behind her, saying, "Why don't you try biting it?"

Tohru nodded and bent her head low. She didn't notice that Kyo had began to flame up. "Done Kyo-kun!" she sang happily as she could as she tried to show him the string that she had pulled out.

Her smile disappeared. "Kyo-kun?"

The young man didn't turn around. His back was still facing her. "Ah. C'mon! Didn't I tell you? We're gonna be late!" he made excuses as he ran down the stairs, flustered and unknowingly gave Tohru the impression that he didn't care.

Tohru's frown disappeared too. Her expression became sad. She then felt a hand on her shoulder. "Honda-san… You shouldn't have to listen to him all the time. And don't worry," Yuki winked at her, "he likes you." (Tohru blushed furiously.)

Without another word, Yuki, fully dressed and neat, walked down the stairs, pulling the red head back ("ACK! What the hell do you think you're doing, damn rat!") and making the collar tug back onto his neck. (In other words, he sort of choked him.)

Yuki leaned into Kyo's ear and whispered, "This is your chance. Tell her…"

Kyo didn't say anything back, but was instead, stunned. He didn't – no – he **never** thought that the rat knew… or even cared for that matter.

But there he was. Yuki was smiling at him like an older brother…or even…a…

…_friend_…

"For once in your life, take my advice," he said and winked. He gave a little wave before walking into the living room.

_What…the…?_

--

He leaned against one of the two walls of the hallway and watched with a small smile as Yuki walked away into the living room. He was at the top of the stairs while the others were at the bottom.

He really did care both of them deeply, but he mustn't tell Akito…

"Am I…really loyal to Akito?" he asked himself as his head lowered and his gaze reached the floor.

"No, not really," a voice behind him answered.

Shigure jumped. He turned around and tried his hardest to smile. "Ah! Hello Ha'ri! What's up?" he asked with a nervous smile.

Hatori only gave him a bland look.

"Aw… Come on! Be happy! It is their graduation after all…" Shigure continued, still smiling that nervous smile. Hatori still held the expressionless look, but he replied:

"I just received a phone call from Akito."

Shigure's smile immediately faltered. "What…What was it about…?" he slowly asked, turning his head so that Hatori was facing Shigure's back.

Hatori only started to walk down the stairs. "You should know… Akito says…" Hatori paused.

"…Says what?" Shigure impatiently asked.

"He wants to go. Kureno will be driving him."

A shadow immediately was cased over Shigure's face. "How dare he…" he muttered to himself.

"Huh?" asked Hatori, missing Shigure's mutter.

Shigure shook his head and said, "Nothing…

"Nothing at all…"

--

"What is it…Yuki?" asked the bi-colored young man. The other young man only shook his head and said:

"Nothing really." He grinned. "But…" He turned his head to look in the direction where he had left Kyo and Tohru, "I think… Kyo's going to tell her real soon…" His eyes softened at the thought.

Yuki turned his head to look at the two teens sitting there. "Momiji? You're awfully quiet today…" he commented, "What is it?"

Momiji's face only turned sadder. "You know…" he whispered almost inaudibly.

All three teens' faces turned sad. Yuki nodded. "Yes…" he said, "I know…"

Haru nodded in agreement. He got up. "We should get going," he replied and both Momiji and Yuki got up from the sitting under the kotatsu.

At the very next minute, Hatori and Shigure appeared, in the living room, followed by Kyo and Tohru. All looked ready to go.

--

"Kureno… Drive faster."

An impatient man sat on the car seat, knees up against his chest. "Kureno… We have to get there as soon as we can," he continued.

The driver nodded and tried. A few minutes passed and Akito grew wary again. "Kurenoooo…" he whined, "drive faster!"

The cursed-rooster began to grow frustrated, but kept it well hidden. "Akito. This is the highest speed I can go without going over the speed limit," he explained.

Akito didn't care. "I don't care! Drive over the speed limit if you have to! Just get there fast!" he shouted.

The car nearly skidded to a stop.

**Author's Note:** It's a short chapter. TT.TT Sorry… (sighs) I'll try to write more. I have a feeling that next year, I won't be able to write or update or go on the internet as much… Since I'm starting high school. TT.TT WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I want to!

(sighs) Only a couple of reviews…but still better than none, right? If you review, it'll motivate me to write, write, write chapter 5 faster! And then I'll update quicker!

Oh yesh. Reviewers… Thanks again, **Animedreamer240** for reviewing! (I'm so sorry. But it seems like something he'd do… T.T)

Thanks to **xAnimeDreamerx94** for reviewing, too! (Whoa. Two Animedreamer's… 0-o But thank you so much! You're too kind! But…you know… You're only boosting my ego. :0 You shall find out later!)

Thank you to **Raven-4ever** for reviewing! (I think so…but this is fanfiction. So let's just say that he made a copy and kept it and that he was just re-watching it. Heh-heh… -laughs nervously-)

Thanks to **Squishy Penguin**, too, for reviewing! (You'll find out later! And thank you!)

And lastly, thank you to **thick-metal-box** for reviewing. (You should know by now that I almost always leave off on a cliffhanger. XD)

Thank you to these five kind souls! Thank you so much for reviewing! I can feel tears coming! (sparkly eyes)

(big grin)

Please review now.


	5. Chapter 5

**FOR THE FIFTH TIME (and last time that I will be announcing this), THERE WILL BE SPOILERS THROUGHTOUT THE WHOLE STORY! n.n **

Shattered Dreams

Chapter 5:

Disclaimer: Takaya-sensei rightfully owns Fruits Basket.

Quickly, her rapid footsteps were heard loudly as she made her way back to her apartment. Ragged breathing was heard as she slid open the door.

"Isuzu-san!"

Her head jolted up, startled at the sound of her name, and she ran towards the direction of the voice. "Isuzu-san!" the same voice called.

She slid the door open fast and saw what was happening.

Kagura looked like she was hugging a very frighten Ritsu. "Isuzu-san!" she asked surprised. Ritsu either didn't notice or chose to not react to the sudden presence of his cousin.

Rin's eye widened and she slowly walked over to the two. "What…happened to him?" she asked as she bent down to the kneeling position.

Kagura only looked even more worried. "I don't know… I found him like this when I came inside…"

Rin didn't say anything so Kagura continued.

"Should we call Hatori?"

She nodded grimly.

--

"Boss! Is this better?" the pig-tailed woman asked as she pushed the heavy box towards one of the corners of the cold, storage room. She tried to push it and soon, Ayame walked over to help.

"No! No! Over here!" he said as he tried to move his left room, pointing to one of the corners.

"Yes Boss!" the woman tried to follow him and both set down the heavy box onto the cold, concrete ground with a deafening thud. Ayame stood back to observe the place he had set it. He fingered his chin while doing so.

"That's great! Hm… Maybe a bit to the left?" he finally asked.

"Sure Boss!" Mine bobbed her head up and down enthusiastically.

"PERFECT!" Ayame nodded his head up and down and up and down…over and over again, repeatedly. He grinned like a mad old man.

His grin faltered in the next minute though.

"What is in that box?" he asked his assistant. Mine frowned, shrugged and said, "But… I thought you knew."

Ayame shook his head and argued, "I thought _you_ knew what was in the box…"

Both persons froze, slowly, stiff, turning to look at the box. Finally, Ayame spoke. "Should we open it?"

Mine nodded and said, "I'll get the scissors…" She went out of the storage room and came back a few seconds later with a pair of scissors, ready to cut.

Ayame nodded and let the woman in front of the box as she worked.

After a few minutes, the woman got up, brushed the extra loose tape off her dress and sighed. "I'm done… We just need to get it open now…" she said, in an exhausted tone of voice.

The man nodded and said, "I'll do it this time."

--

Soon both adults gave up. Both were on the cold, concrete floor, breathing hard. "I never knew a cardboard box could be so hard to open…" Ayame managed to voice it out as he panted.

Mine only nodded. After a few quick moments, she suddenly stood up from her former sitting position, and said, "Shouldn't you be getting ready to go to otouto-san's graduation?"

Ayame jolted up from his kneeling position. He started to run out the storage room, yelling a short, quick and empathetic "sorry".

"Shit," was the last thing Mine heard as the storage door slammed shut.

She smiled softly and giggled at Ayame's behavior.

--

The car ride was long and boring. With all the trees staring out at each occupant in the car, no one could be peaceful or happy. The atmosphere seemed to not at all match the weather outside.

Whilst it was sunny outside, it was gloomy inside the car. No one said a word during the whole car ride until they had arrived at the front gate of the school.

Once arriving at the front gate, everyone, Haru, Momiji, Hatori, Shigure, Yuki, Kyo and Tohru, climbed out of the car at once. (Least to say, they were pretty cramped.)

Even the walk to the bleachers was quiet. It was so quiet, it was scary. There wasn't even the usual argument curtsey of Yuki and Kyo. Tohru, Yuki and Kyo followed another group of third-years up to the backstage and disappeared from view.

Hatori and the others sat down on the bleachers, in front of the stage, waiting for the ceremony.

--

(A/N: I'm just going to skip the graduation ceremony because I have yet to graduate so I have no idea what happens in a graduation ceremony other than the fact you get diplomas and the principal gives a speech. XP Sorry! I'll try to add this in when I'm older and I have learned more.)

The ceremony ended quickly and the now graduated students filed out. Hatori, Shigure, Haru, and Momiji stood by a tree, waiting for the three graduates to meet them there.

Yuki walked over to them, feeling slightly happier since morning. As the three of them walked over to the other Sohma's, Yuki opened his mouth to speak. "Hatori, mind if I go meet someone for a couple of minutes."

Hatori looked as if he was going to say "no" but thought the better of it and nodded. "But hurry, Yuki. Akito will be here any minute," he replied with a frown.

"Ah, so Yuki-kun has finally found a girl—" Shigure started but stopped talking at Yuki's glare and Hatori's slap on the back of his head, making Shigure's head lean towards the ground.

Yuki turned to the brunette and said, "I'll be back soon." Tohru nodded and said, "Come back safe…"

Without another word, he left.

This time, it was Kyo's turn to speak. "Could 'ya give us some privacy?" he asked in his rough-mannered tone. Tohru turned to look away, trying to hide a blush.

_/he likes you/ _

Yuki's words only made Tohru's face grow even hotter and redder. As Kyo took her hand and walked over to an empty lot, she kept her face low and facing the ground. When they stopped, Tohru only looked up to see where they were. They were only a couple trees away from where they were before.

"Hey… Do you have a fever or somethin'?" he asked suddenly, noting her red face and flustered blush.

Immediately, Tohru shook her head and said, "No! No! No! It's alright! I'm fine! Kyo-kun… What we should worry about is… **You**."

Kyo was immediately taken back. He took an involuntary step back and stared at the ground, not knowing what to say. "I—" he started, but his intense gaze at the ground kept him from looking up. "No… Why? Why do you worry about me? Why do you even care about me?" He looked up finally.

Before he knew it, before he thought of anything else, before Tohru had said anything, he opened his mouth and the three little words slipped off his tongue.

"I love you."

--

"Awww… They're really cute, huh, Haru?" the cursed-bunny said happily as he leaned his head on Haru's shoulder. He felt the cursed-cow move his head up and down and continued to watch the two couple.

"He's confessing, right?" Shigure suddenly asked, appearing behind the two of them. Neither of them jumped nor made a noise. If it had been Yuki or Kyo, surely one them would have jumped or at least acknowledge that the cursed-dog was here!

Shigure pouted. "Mou… Come on! Tell me!" he whined.

"Shigure…" Haru started to speak, surprising all three of them, Momiji, Hatori and most of all, Shigure.

"Eh? What happened to 'Sensei'?" the novelist asked with a small frown.

At first, Haru appeared to be ignoring Shigure's question, but after a few moments, he answered. "Because Yuki's not going to be in your house anymore… No one will be…" he simply replied.

Shigure looked surprised at Haru's words at first, as did Momiji and Hatori. In fact, least to say, they were pretty shocked. They had never heard of this.

As always, being the suspicious one, Hatori spoke. "Shigure… You didn't _happen_ to make a deal with Haru, now did you?" he asked, as if he was about to release any extra amounts of anger any minute now.

Shigure looked nervous for a minute. "E-Eh… W-What makes you say that Ha'ri?" he asked nervously as beads of sweat formed on his forehead and began to make their way down.

Hatori only glared at him.

--

"Machi!"

Her head jolted up at the sound of her name. The high school "Prince" was running towards her with a carefree smile plastered onto his face.

She said nothing when he stopped right in front of her. He was panting hard and quite sweaty and looking as…good as ever… Machi felt a streak of red creep onto her face. (Awww! Machi's got the hots for him! X3)

"M-Machi….? Are you alright?" he started to ask, his head tilting to one side. "You look rather…red…" he commented.

Her blush only deepen. "E-Eh…?" she started as her hands automatically flew to her face, covering the blush. "W-What are you talking about? I'm fine," she stuttered quickly.

He smiled. "Machi… You're…so cute like that."

Machi felt the world freeze. Well, it seemed like it to her. Her eyes were frozen looking at her shoes, after hearing those words. And again, her blush deepen.

Yuki began to look worried. "Eh? Machi? Are you alright?" he asked again, reaching out a hand to place on her shoulders.

She moved away. She swore she saw hurt flash on his face but it disappeared the next. "I'm…fine…" She suddenly had a feeling of de ja vu…though she couldn't place where she had done this before…

She frowned. "Well… Is that all you're here to say?" she asked in a testy tone. She started to walk away without hearing an answer from the "Prince".

"Eh? Machi? Wait!" the "Prince" ran up to catch up to her, but she only kept walking so he started to walk alongside of her. "There's…" he blushed, "something I want to tell you…"

Again, Machi felt that dreaded feeling in which her cheeks began to turn pink. She tried to hide it. "What?" she asked in a false irritated tone.

He only smiled at her tone. He saw through her. He looked around awkwardly. "Machi… Uh… I've just noticed… Kakeru actually noticed it before me but…" he looked at the ground, "Argh! Why can't I say it?" His face turned flustered and he quickly added, "Oh no. I sound like that stupid Kyo don't I?"

Machi couldn't help it. In all those times that she had trained herself to not smile, laugh or let other emotions through her mask, she couldn't hold this one in. The corners of her lips curved up and a giggle escaped her.

Before she could stop herself, she started to laugh. She covered her mouth and laughed.

Yuki looked surprised at first but joined in her laughter.

"Y-You!" she stuttered out, laughing, "You're so…!" She kept laughing and soon, she was kneeling on the ground, clutching her sides.

Yuki stopped, smiled and bent down to her level. "Hey…Machi?" he asked worriedly. She couldn't help it! She just kept laughing, and covering her mouth. After a few minutes, her laughter began to die down.

Yuki smiled. "You alright Machi?"

She froze. Why hadn't she notice it before? Why hadn't see notice that whenever he said her name, there was a ring to it? Why hadn't she notice that he called her by her first name?

Was she that blind? That out of it? She began to sniffle. "I-I…I'm f-fine," she managed to stammer out between each sniffle.

Yuki began to worry. "E-eh? Machi! Are you alright!" he asked, repeating the question for the ump-teenth time.

She didn't answer at first, but she had to admit. Her kneeling position was getting uncomfortable. Her head jolted up, tears and all still on her face. "Didn't you hear me!" she shouted, "I'm fine!" She then stood up, and started to run.

Yuki looked surprised at her reaction. For a moment, he was paralyzed. After a few minutes, he unlocked himself from his frozen position and ran after her.

--

"K-Kyo…kun?" she stuttered as her cheeks began to turn to the evil color of red. Her mind raced furiously. Had Kyo always liked her? How long had she been blind to it all? How long has he been looking at her like…_that?_

Kyo's eyes widened; his feet were rooted into the ground so he couldn't move. He didn't speak for a moment…two moments…

"Kyo-kun…" Tohru said in a firmer voice, "I…" she hesitated. After all, was this the correct decision? Her memories were to be erased… Would it hurt Kyo more if she loved him? Or if she only liked him?

She knew it selfish when she made the decision, but wasn't Kyo the one who told her that it was okay to be selfish sometimes? To…complain a little?

She knew her answer. She nodded her herself, agreeing with herself, and said, "I love you, too." She smiled.

Kyo looked even more surprised at her response than when he actually told her that he loved her. He smiled sadly, slowly unpinned his graduation flower on his chest of the gown and handed to her.

She accepted gratefully. She looked at the flower in her hand. It was…pink…beautiful and simple…

She smiled at him again.

"Just once…" he whispered as he got closer. Close enough for Tohru to see his eyelashes…

--

"We're here..."

**Author's Squabbles: **I _was_ going to make this chapter longer, but I know you guys want an update…so…ta-da! Sorry, I've been busy. A small writer's block hit me, then there was this English presentation I have to get ready and my sister and I started watching Bleach. (Which is one of the BEST anime ever! I had read it before but never seen it so I was sooooo happy to see it!) Just so you know, I haven't proof read this yet so please excuse the typos. If you tell me, I'll fix it and replace the chapter. ((Sighs)) Alright, I think I'm done complaining now.

**Tbiris:** Thank you for your review! And thanks! I hope the characters aren't too out of themselves…if that makes sense… ((sweat drop))

**Animedreamer240:** You should know by now that I tend to leave off in cliffies… De ja vu… 00 Anyways, thanks for your review! I can't wait for your next update Mimi!

**Raven-4ever:** He did! He did it! Yuki's turn is coming up soon too. ((wink wink)) And poor Kyo… I have things planned for him. Thank you for your review!

**Blueyedluv:** Thank you for reviewing! I hope you'll like the next chapter and enjoyed this one!

**Squishy Penguin:** Thank you for the compliment! ((hugs)) :D Just had to do that. ((sweat drop)) Heh-heh… Anyways, stay around for the next chapter!

Thank you all for reviewing! Please review. It'll make me happy and motivate me to update:D


	6. Chapter 6

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, do you think I'd be here?

Chapter 6:

Hatori winced. Hatori didn't even know what was going on, but he winced. It was pain, he realized. But from what? His eyes squinted at the small jab of pain poking at his ribs.

It didn't hurt that much. But even so… He looked up, _what's going?_

And then he knew.

A black car pulled up in the parking lot of the school and two figures came out. The taller one, one with brown hair motioned the shorter one - with black hair – towards Hatori's direction. An unexpected third figure slowly climbed out of the car afterwards.

_Akito…and Kureno…and… Is that…!_

--

"_Ah-ha! I knew it!"_

"_Eh? Knew what? What the heck are you talking about, Kakeru?"_

"_I knew it, I knew it!"_

"…"

"_You like Machi!"_

"_EH!"_

"_Am I right? Am I rig—"_

"_Don't speak nonsense."_

"_But she likes you."_

"_How do you even know that for sure?"_

"_Positive! I asked her myself!"_

"_She…actually gave you a straight answer?"_

"_NOPE!"_

"_Then…how?"_

"_I said, 'You sure like red, don't you?' and she blushed!"_

"_And… What does that mean?"_

"_Wow. For being Student Council President, you sure are dense!"_

"…_huh?"_

"_Anyways, since my sister—"_

"_Your **sister**!"_

"_Oh yeah! I forgot to mention! She's my half sister!"_

"_Really? Oh yeah! Mhmm! Yeah, that's right."_

"_What are you agreeing to yourself about?"_

"_Never mind."_

"_Well, technically, she's my half-sister. We have the same father but different mother."_

"_So, to be blunt, your father hooked up with two different females?"_

"_EEHHH! How could Yun-Yun be so mean to our father!"_

"'_**Our**'!"_

"_Eh… Anyways, we have a big family… Sorta like you Sohma's. But well… It's kinda hard to explain but… Since we have the same father, but different mothers, our mother's wanted us to compete for our father's money and stuff…_

"_So…it's like…we were trained for perfection… You know? It was like we were **caged**…"_

"…_like us, Sohma's huh?"_

"_Eh? What'd you say, Yun-Yun?"_

"_Nothing… Go on…"_

"_Well, I soon got tired of it… So during an important dinner, I…sorta blew it."_

"'_Blew it'?"_

"_Yeah. I made a mess. My mom stopped trying to get me to be perfect. It felt so good to be free…_

"_So…Yun-Yun?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_I don't think Machi is free yet. Please…free her…"_

Why did **that** memory appear in his head at this moment? At that moment, Kakeru looked so serious. Like he really meant it. As if…there were more than what Kakeru really seemed. It seemed like a while since he had spoke to the vice president of the student council…but…

…Maybe it was because he had been so busy – the both of them – with getting ready for graduation and all… Now it had passed…

Come to think of it… Yuki hadn't even seen Kakeru all this morning.

_/Just one girl. She's awful cute. I really do love her/_

Yuki blinked. Where'd _that_ come from? He kept running after Machi, despite his growing lack of breath. He had to keep running…

…maybe something good would come out of this…

--

"I didn't think you'd make it, A—" Hatori started with a frown but was interrupted by the person whom he was speaking to.

"Non-non! Of course I'd **never** miss such an important event like this! My little brother's graduation! Even as we were walking along the sandy beaches, we swore that everyday, on an important event, we shall be there for each other! And so I shall keep my promise! I'll never miss out on such an event!" Ayame started to say as he struck a weird-looking pose.

"Stop it, Ayame."

The cursed-snake immediately stopped blabbing and shut up after hearing the clan head's tone. Instead of talking some more, he walked up to the "god of the Juunishi" and tilted his head as if questioning him.

"Are you alright Akito-san?"

--

"So…? What happened?"

Kakeru Manabe looked up from the cardboard box in which he was carrying and simply decided to listen in on the gossipers.

"I-I don't know. I saw the P-Prince chasing some g-girl."

Kakeru smiled at the thought of his president chasing a girl. He wondered who it was…

"Well? What did the girl looked like, Mio?"

Kakeru pretended to be a bystander. He walked very slowly with the cardboard bow still in his arms as he peered at the two gossipers.

Both of them were from the Prince Yuki Fanclub. He had to roll his eyes at that thought. _Those stupid girls…_ He shook his head. One of them, the one girl who appeared to be demanding to know what had happened with the Prince had two pig tails each on the side of her head. She stood, towering over the younger girl.

The younger girl had short shoulder-length black haired and appeared to be named, "Mio". He continued to watch.

"I-I only saw that s-she was crying. Her hair was a bit like Y-Yuki-san only darker…" she managed to mumble out as she kept her head down, "I-I'm sorry President Minami! I'll try harder next time! I'll figure out who she is! I'll track her do--!"

The one called Minami only rolled her eyes and interrupted the younger student. "There won't be a next time. He's already graduated. And you should act more like a president. Wait… She was crying?" Minami asked suddenly. "She was crying?"

Mio nodded feebly.

Minami grinned. "She must have been rejected."

Mio made a wrong decision. "But Yuki-san was chasing after her."

The elder girl frowned. "Well… That girl… Ah! Forget it! Just go and get more info!" she dismissed the girl.

Mio nodded and quickly made her way across the hall.

It was Kakeru's turn to grin. _Wonder how he's fairing…_ He thought as he heaved the boxes into a more comfortable position and walked on. Soon, his back began to ache. "Ugh… Why did I even volunteer to help…?" he asked himself as he kept walking, making his way towards the student council room, "ugh, I sound like an old man… Although… I can use some sleep… Hmph, maybe I can sneak in some time for a nap," he said to himself.

Upon arriving the student council room, he saw a tall girl with long black hair looking up at the sign he had made two years ago. The sign that had said, "The Student Defense Force".

He grinned at the memory that followed. He remembered when he first put it up. He had been so proud of the sign he had made. Yet, only a couple hours later he found the sign pull a disappearing act. At that, he remembered that Yun-Yun had not liked the name so he was the first suspect.

Of course, when he had ran into the room, crying and wailing, as demanding to know where he had hidden the poor sign, Yun-Yun claimed he didn't know what he was talking about.

Then Chibi-suke admitted that he was the one who threw away the "horrible" sign. Therefore, Kakeru had awarded Chibi-suke with his "divine punishment". He grinned again. Later, he made another one and put it up. Soon though, he found the sign in one of the school dumps. But he didn't give up. He kept making them and putting them up and soon he won.

He won the fight.

"Excuse me?"

The sweet, familiar tone reminded him of a certain someone… He awoke from his trance and remembering his memories.

He woke up with a jolt. "Yes?" he asked, not looking at the person, instead, heading inside the room. "Are you lost? Is there anything I can help you with?" After all, he was vice president of the Student Council or as he liked to call it, Student Defense Force.

"Awww…" the girl said, "You don't remember me, Kakeru?" she asked in a sing-song tone.

He looked up with a surprised look.

"Komaki-chan!"

--

He found her near the school gate after chasing her all around. He panted. "M-Machi… W-Why are y-you running…a-away?" he tried to say through each pant.

She, too, was panting but harder because she had been trying to get away. And then, for some reason, she broke down crying.

Yuki was startled. "EH! M-MACHI! Are you alright!" he asked as he walked over to her.

"I-I'm so stupid! W-Why do you even like me! I thought you liked that Honda girl!" she exclaimed suddenly letting out her frustrations.

Yuki started to calm down. He smiled. "Oh. Is that it?"

She looked up, surprised. She stopped crying. "'Oh'! Is that all you're going to say?" She stared at him.

He smiled again. "I never loved Honda-san that way," he bent down, "I've…" he looked down shyly, "…always liked you…"

Machi blushed and looked away. "I-I've never been confessed to before…so… Sohma-san… I don't know how to react…"

Yuki smiled even wider. "I'm not 'Sohma-san'."

She stared at him hard. Biting her lips, she struggled to say his name. "Y-Yu… Yu…KUN!"

He had to laugh at her effort.

**Author's Note:** No Kyoru moments in this chapter… Ah… Kyoru fans, don't kill me. I'll put in tons more in later chapters. I hope Yuchi fans like those Yuki X Machi moments. :D This chapter is kind of short though… Anyways, review.

Thank you to:

**Raven-4ever**

**Blueyedluv**

**Rubyfire –** I don't know how long this story will be… I'm writing it as I'm posting it. Sorry… And as for the cutting thing. A couple weeks maybe… Not years though. And thank you for reviewing. As for pairings, I really have no idea. A lot though. Probably as many as there are in the manga. I will try to make it happier later. :D

**Cocoke5**

**Anime.freakazoid**

**Orange sodap0p**

A-Ah! I'm sorry! I'm very slow at getting to the point! But I'm sure it will be in the next chapter! I'm sure I'll get there the next chapter or at least I'll try to!

Hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Please review now. (P.S. I have a really bad cough right and reviews will help me feel better. ;D)


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Before you read this, I just want to clarify Komaki's personality. I made it up. I have no clue how her real personality is and how Kakeru acts around her, so I'm guessing. I have a couple of reference materials, but they're aren't _that_ helpful. So I improvised. Thank you for reading this little note.

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket… I wish I did though… ((sighs)) Someday I will though…

Chapter 7:

"So, so? What are you doing here, Komaki-chan?" Kakeru Manabe asked, now carrying the boxes into the Student Council room AKA the Student Defense Force Headquarters.

Komaki pretended to look shock. "EH! Kakeru-chan forgot about me? Kakeru-chan forgot he invited me!" She walked faster to catch up to him, and knocked over the boxes in the process.

"Wha--! Komaki-chan!" Kakeru pretended to whine, now spilling out crocodile tears and kneeling onto the ground, picking up the box's contents. "You…You…You knocked over all my hard work!" he nearly shouted, making a puppy face.

Komaki only giggled and pulled off her mask. "Ha-ha! Kakeru!" she said in a sing-song voice, "You know what I came here for!" she said grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

Kakeru stopped his act, too and picked up all the boxes again. Komaki bent down and took a box. Kakeru grinned. "Yep!" he said happily, and then paused, as if waiting for something.

And he got what he wanted.

Komaki bent her head, still holding the box, and pressed her lips onto Kakeru's cheek.

Kakeru couldn't help but feel light as a feather.

--

Kyo moved back and smiled like a love sick fool. "U-Uh…" he managed to stutter out, "U-Uh…" He looked away, blushing like a maniac.

Tohru only blushed and looked away too.

They stood in an awkward silence before Kyo finally spoke. "Oi… I guess we should start heading back…" he muttered quietly, remember what the date was.

This time, both smiles on their faces were wiped off completely.

Kyo started to walk away, hands in pockets. Tohru only stared hard at the ground before waking up from her daze and stumbling over a rock.

"A-Ah!" she managed to squeak out as her hands flew to hold herself up from falling onto the ground. She closed her eyes tightly to prevent grass getting into her eyes. (That and she was scared to watch.)

She suddenly felt a strong grip holding onto her arm and she opened her eyes. She looked up and saw a grinning red-head.

"Watch it, why don't cha?" His grin became wider, "You'll keep falling like that if you don't watch where you're going."

"Aren't you the idiot who fell first?" a voice asked from behind the two young adults, startling the both of them.

"AH!" Kyo turned around, pointing an accusing finger at his nemesis, "What are _you_ doing here!" He was so busy pointing and accusing and focusing his attention on the "damn rat" that he didn't notice the "damn rat's" accomplice.

"Hello…"

"AH!" Kyo spun around quickly and his fiery red eyes narrowed. "Who the heck are you?" he asked bluntly without another thought.

Machi didn't say anything at first; she only stared at the ground with a blank look, yet somehow… It looked like she was on cloud nine.

Yuki watched Machi with a smile and turned his attention back to Kyo. "Anyways, we should be heading back," he said now taking on the more serious situation.

Tohru, who had greeted Machi and stayed quiet, watching the two cousins fight, nodded with a determined expression.

Of course, Machi didn't understand.

Kyo frowned, bottom lip sticking out, and said, "Well… Whoever 'ya are, aren't 'ya goin' to…go?"

Machi didn't answer; Yuki decided to step in. "Hey, Kyo? Do you think you can go ahead? We're going to wait for Kakeru and I'll be there," he firstly directed it to Kyo and then turned to Tohru, "Honda-san," he smiled, "I'll be there in a bit."

Tohru smiled and nodded.

And as on cue, Kakeru arrived.

"YUN-YUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

Yuki felt his spine curve downward and soon found a pair of hands covering his eyes. "Guess who!" asked the annoying sing-song voice that belonged to that one annoying person. Yuki growled, "I know it's you Kakeru…"

"Get off him, Manabe…" Machi said suddenly, without turning her head to look at her step-brother.

"Eh?" Kakeru asked without taking his hands off Yuki's eyes ("Ack! Kakeru! Get your hands off my eyes! I can't see!" –Yuki. "What the hell is going on…?" –Kyo and "A-Ah! Yuki-kun, are you alright?" –Tohru).

"Aaahhhhh… Machi… Did you do some… 'stuff' with Yun-Yun?" Kakeru asked in as if it were the most normal thing in the world to talk about and winked.

Machi turned away to hide her coming blush.

"What! Kakeru! Stop saying stupid things!" he yelled as he struggled to get the ex-vice president off.

And of all the time, Kyo felt his vein popping. He looked over at Tohru – who looked like she wanted to help get Kakeru off Yuki but couldn't because of "accidents". Kyo felt his vein pop even more and gave up. "Fine," he muttered to himself as he walked over to the idiot.

"Look you," he remarked, "get off my cousin; we're awfully busy so just get the hell away from us!"

Kakeru's eyes became as big as saucers. "Eh! Yun-Yun!" he finally took his hands off Yuki's eyes and put them in front of his mouth, he then pushed his head onto the back of Yuki's neck and _snuggled_ there, "Your cousin is _s-c-a-r-y_!"

Machi had enough. "Manabe!" she yelled, catching everyone's attention, "Get off Sohma-kun now!"

Kakeru made a point to throw a tantrum. "No! I dunno wanna!" he shouted as if he was a little kid, "I dun wanna!"

That was enough for Kyo as well.

Kyo reached for Kakeru's collar and grabbed it, and pulled Kakeru right off. And all Kakeru could say was, "Eh?". Kyo dropped Kakeru quite abruptly onto the floor.

"Ah!" Kakeru said as he met the floor.

"Awww! Did Kakeru-chan get hurt again?" cooed a voice from behind Kyo, Tohru, Yuki, Machi and Kakeru. The unfamiliar voice led to a tall girl with long black hair that reached to the middle of her back and on her face, she had plastered a huge grin.

Yuki was the first one to speak after the tall black-haired girl had appear. "Eh? Nakao-san! Hi," he greeted the girl. He smiled.

"Oh hi, Yuki-san!" the girl replied back in return. She smiled back in return, too. She, then, turned her attention to Kakeru, who was now getting up, and said, "Kakeru-chan! You aren't hurt anywhere are you?" Her bottom lip stuck out; she started to pout.

The girl whom Yuki had called "Nakao-san" turned her attention away from Kakeru and her eyes landed on Tohru, who was wringing her wrists as if she wanted to so badly apologize, but something was keeping her. "EH!" the girl suddenly shouted, ignoring the weird looks she was getting from Kyo, "Kakeru-chan has been cheating on me!" She stomped over to Kakeru, "HOW COULD YOU!"

Then, she pounded him on the head.

A sweat drop formed on Yuki, Kyo and Tohru's foreheads.

"Nakao-kun…" Machi started expressionlessly, "you shouldn't do that…and besides… Manabe wasn't cheating on you…"

Nakao looked up from pounding Kakeru to a pulp. "Eh?" she sniffed a bit, "Kakeru-chan wasn't…?"

Machi didn't say anything, nor did her face change.

Tohru decided to step in at that time, "No, uh… I only just met Manabe-san a couple days ago actually and…uh…" she looked at Kyo, blushing. Nakao seemed to have gotten the message.

"Ah!" she said suddenly, snapping her fingers, "I get it!" she grinned. Kakeru had gotten up and now was on the way of introducing them.

"This is my meat angel, Nakao Komaki," he said firstly as he pointed to the tall girl with a HUGE grin, "Of course," he added, "Yun-Yun and Machi already knows this."

And only one thought ran through both Kyo and Tohru…

"_Meat angel?"_

He moved on, "Komaki-chan, this is Sohma Kyo, Yun-Yun's cousin," he said, pointing to the red-head, "and this…" a malicious grin formed on his face, "is Honda Tohru."

"Eh? 'Honda Tohru'?" Komaki suddenly said in a surprised tone, "Nice to meet you, Honda-san and Sohma-kun!"

Kyo growled at how Komaki had called him, "It's 'Kyo'" he scowled. He hated being called by his surname…

Tohru only titled her head a bit ways, and said, "Nice to meet you Nakao-san!"

Komaki only made a face, and shook her head, "No, no! It's Komaki to you!" she corrected the younger girl. Tohru could only sweat drop and nod.

"Eh… Komaki-san," she tried.

Komaki gave up and said, "Fine, fine. That's good."

She had completely ignored Kyo.

Tohru decided to change the subject. "So, are you here with your parents?" she asked with a smile.

Komaki's grin began to fade, but her smile stayed. "Eh… Not really… I'm just here with my mom… You know… To congratulate Kakeru-chan!"

"What happened to your…father?" Tohru asked softly. Her smile, too, began to fade at the thought of losing one's own father.

Yuki, Machi and Kakeru only looked away. Kyo looked confused.

"He…died in a car accident in May three years ago…"

_He died in a car accident? In… **May**? Wait a minute… Three years ago was…when…_ Tohru realized, eyes widening at the thought, _**my mom** had been killed… _

/_ "Eh? 'Honda Tohru'?" /_

No wonder Komaki was so surprised.

"Honda-san," Komaki suddenly said, awakening Tohru from her trance, "Are you alright?" She tilted her head and bent down to Tohru's eye level.

"EH? I mean--! Yes! I'm alright! Just fine, fine!" Tohru nearly shouted, panicking at her behavior. "Sorry…" she whispered, calming down, "I… I didn't mean to space out like that…" She looked away.

Komaki smiled. "It's really alright!" she reassured the younger girl, "I don't mind."

Tohru looked up smiling. "Uh…" she remembered the situation, "I think we have to go…" She lowered head.

Yuki and Kyo, too, looked away. Each one had an unreadable expression.

Kakeru – who had been trying to get Machi to tell him what had happened earlier – suddenly was pounded on the head by a fist. Machi's that is. "Owowow…" Kakeru muttered as he once again, met the ground close-up.

"Aww! Kakeru-chan got beat again?" Komaki teased, offering him a hand; she turned to Tohru, and grinned, "I think we should get going too…"

Yuki walked over towards Machi and smiled. "Actually, I should go, too. Thank you."

Machi blushed and looked away. What the others didn't notice as they watched the couple was that Machi had handed Yuki a small slip of paper. Yuki's surprised face met Machi's and smiled. Yuki didn't say anything, but…

_I think he knew what I was thinking…_

--

"There you are!" Hatori said letting out a relived sigh as he walked towards the trio walking towards Akito, Ayame, Momiji, Haru, Shigure and himself.

Tohru smiled sadly and nodded. Kyo looked away and Yuki looked sad. "Yuki, Kyo, you'll be going in the car with Akito, Haru and Ayame. Tohru, Momiji, Shigure and I will be in the other car."

The trio nodded; Kyo didn't even yell at Hatori for putting him in the same car as Yuki.

Things were just beginning…

**Author's Note: ** FINALLY! I got to the point… Sort of… A bit… Okay, okay, maybe not, but I reached my goal. I wanted to put the last words to this chapter somewhere…. ((shifts eyes)) Anyways, if you review, I'll update faster. Thank you!


	8. Chapter 8

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. Arigotou gozaimasu! (Thank you very much!) (Did I spell that right?)

Chapter 8:

He listened to the soft _plick-plack_ sounds of the down pouring drizzle. Each wet droplet fell from the sky and he flinched when he felt a bit hit him on the cheek. But he didn't move from his spot. He didn't move anywhere for a while and wouldn't have to soon… He had been in the same spot for a day or two now… He knew he was filthy…

But the rain was nice to look at.

He sighed and rested his left arm on his forehead. It was warm even though it was raining. Of course, no one would be visiting him; they weren't allowed to. Only Akito was.

He was bored. He'd probably die of boredom before starvation. He had nothing to do… Well… When he first was placed here… He practiced martial arts every morning for about two hours. But then… He was soon told off by Akito…

So now it placed him where he is now. Boredom. Damn, he hated that word. He looked out his barred windows to estimate the time… Since it was summer…there'd be more daylight so… But it was raining…. Hm…

It looked to be around the afternoon. Akito would be here any minute now, he thought to himself. He snorted, what are the chances of depending his entertainment on that monster? Besides, the only things Akito actually did with him when he visited was talking. Sometimes just staring at him in silence… Other times Akito would throw books at him…

Akito was one strange boy.

He couldn't really be called a man. He acted like a spoiled kid… A sudden noise near the locked doors told him that Akito was right on time. He wondered what mood Akito would be in now…

Akito walked in silently, his yukata draped on him messily and his face held no facial expression.

Kyo didn't answer, in fact, he turned his head to look away from the head.

Akito didn't seem to notice or just didn't care. Instead, he plopped himself down on the provided futon.

Kyo guessed Akito was in the silent mood. He kept watching the rain… Then a thought came to him. Did Akito walk all the way here in the rain? Kyo shifted slightly and caught a glance at Akito. He wasn't wet at all.

Kyo turned back and mentally snorted. He thought so. Probably Kureno or that damn dog walked him there. Who cares anymore?

A sudden knock startled Kyo.

"May I come in?" asked an awfully familiar voice. Akito didn't answer and Kyo assumed that it was his choice.

Kyo hadn't used his voice in a while…with no one to talk to… So his answer came out in a hoarse tone, "Sure."

The door opened and the figure walked in. He couldn't see who it was because of the lack of light in his "house"… Yet he knew that figure.

"YOU!" his hoarse voice growled. His eyes became cat-like.

Yuki didn't answer, yet only waited until the head of the family to motion to sit next to him. Akito finally spoke.

"Starting tomorrow, Yuki will be to one giving your meals."

Kyo met yet another surprise. "WHAT! But! But I thought Kureno was supposed to finish it until the wintertime--!" Akito cut him off with a glare.

"Silence monster. I need not your complaints. If you want to complain, complain to the wall."

Kyo didn't reply. He turned back to watching the window.

"I see that you understand," Kyo imagined Akito sneering, "Come on Yuki…" Akito got up and motioned Yuki to follow him. They both exited the small "house" and Kyo heard the lock fasten.

"Jeez…" he muttered to himself, "Wonder what's going on…"

--

Both were quiet as they headed away from the Cat's little hut. Akito didn't say anything, and nor did Yuki. The only difference in the two was that Akito was smirking as if he had just had the most brilliant idea ever. Yuki had no expression.

"So… Yuki?" Akito suddenly spoke, breaking the silence that loomed over their heads as they entered the hallways. Yuki only looked up when he was called. "Did you…" Akito paused, savoring the moment, "…enjoy the look on that monster's face when he saw you?"

There was no way Yuki could answer to that.

"Well… Did you?" Akito pressured on as they continued to walk towards Akito's room through the empty hallways.

Yuki didn't want to answer, but he knew that would be wrong, so he lied. "I did, Akito," he said, licking his dry lips, "The look on the monster was definitely worth seeing."

Akito seemed satisfied for he didn't question Yuki anymore until they entered his room. Akito motioned the younger teen to sit next to him on the bed.

He sighed. "Such…a lovely day, isn't it…Yuki?" Akito turned to stare at Yuki now.

Again, Yuki didn't answer at first. He stared at the wooden flooring as he kneeled. Akito smirked. "Well… It was nice to get rid of that _witch_. That wicked little bitch… Remember her face, Yuki? When Hatori erased her memories? When I told her that I'd make sure that Hatori would erase every Juunishi's memories!"

Yuki held onto his solemn expression.

"HA! And she believed me too! Of course I'd never make Hatori erase all your memories!" he paused and crawled closer to Yuki, "Of course I'd **never** make Hatori suffer all _alone_…" He grinned like a maniac, "You'll all suffer!

"Isn't that right…Yuki?" Akito started to caress Yuki's cheek lovingly. "I'm so thoughtful right, Yuki? I'm such a good person, right Yuki?" He stopped suddenly and stood up.

"No…No…" he saw Yuki's indifferent look, "You… You're…like…"

A sudden knock on the door stopped Akito's path of rage.

Akito walked abruptly over to the door and slid it open. Yuki couldn't see the figure behind the door so he kept quiet. After a few minutes, Akito returned with grin – apparently, he had gotten good news depending on his view of things.

"Ah… Where was I?" Akito asked himself, "Oh well… I'll remember sometime…"

By now, it had stopped raining and the birds had started to come out again. "Akito," Yuki finally said, "You _are_ thoughtful… Just like Honda-san…" He had spoken without thinking, but maybe this would do some good…

Akito went nuts.

"DON'T YOU **DARE** COMPARE ME TO THAT LOWLY WOMEN! DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO **ANY** WOMEN! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS COMPARE ME WITH OTHER WOMEN! WHY ISN'T IT ALWAYS WOMEN? WOMEN THIS, WOMEN THAT! WHY ISN'T IT THE MEN THAT GET COMPARED! THAT'S IT! JUST GET **OUT!**"

Yuki – surprised at Akito's reaction to a simple phrase – ran out the doors and went off to find Shigure.

He needed to talk after this new revelation.

--

His bottom lip stuck out. "What is it, Yuki-kun?" Shigure asked arms folded across his chest as he stopped walking through the empty hallway that led to Akito's chambers.

At first, Yuki didn't answer. He pondered how he was going to phrase the way Akito acted.

"What's wrong, Yuki-kun?" Shigure asked again. His fingers were now tapping impatiently.

Yuki turned to stare at the older male. "I don't really know if this is unusual for you or not…" he began, "but… Akito just started to freak out 'cause I told him he was a bit like Honda-san…"

Shigure raised an eyebrow. "Really now? What did Akito say?" he asked, curious at what the clan head had to yell about now.

"He said something about 'not comparing him to females' or something… As if Akito even looks…" Yuki started, trailing off. He frowned and after a few moments silence, he said, "Actually… Akito does look a bit like a female… More than me though," he confirmed.

Shigure only chuckled.

"What?" Yuki said, staring at the older male again, "Is something funny?"

He shook his head and replied, "Ah, nothing at all…" he made a motion towards the door, "I'm going to see Akito now…" he explained.

Yuki nodded and walked off just as Shigure opened the door. _Hm… I'm guessing he's catching on, Akito…_ Shigure thought as he entered the room with a smirk.

Akito sat just under the open window, arms flailing out the window itself. "What do you want now you insolent puppy!" he demanded without even a glance at the new person.

"Ah?" Shigure asked, pretending to be surprised, "You knew it was me?"

"No one else in this house would have such a stinky odor," was Akito's explanation.

"Aw…" Shigure pouted, "That's so mean Akito!" he walked over to where Akito sat and bent down to her eye level. "Just…like you…" he murmured as his hand went on Akito's cheek.

Akito immediately slapped the hand off his face. "Don't touch me you stinky dog!" he commanded as he sat up straight and stormed to where his bed was. Shigure followed anyways. Akito turned around and glared at him, "Don't follow me either!"

"Aw… Akito-chan is being a meanie!" Shigure whined, biting on his bottom lip.

"Don't you have any respect for your clan head?" Akito suddenly asked, devoid of any other emotion except anger at that point.

"Don't you have any respect for your people?" Shigure countered back. This time, a smirk flowed to his lips. He plopped himself onto the bed next to Akito.

"Right…Akito?"

--

Yuki frowned. He didn't dare eavesdrop on Shigure and Akito. Who knows what they'd do to him if they found out? That sent shivers down his spine… Jeez… But… He really wanted to know what Shigure was up to…

His frown on increased. He kept walking. A sudden image of Tohru popped into his mind. Long chocolate brown hair let loose, a huge happy smile on plastered on her face, warm words… He missed those… No doubt Kyo missed them much more than he did.

"Eh? Yuki?"

Feeling a bit dazed, he swiveled around to find a spaced-out lost Haru staring back at him with a confused look. "What are you doing here?" both asked at the same time.

"Heh. Guess we really were twins, huh Yuki?" Haru replied blandly as Yuki felt beads of sweat coming down his forehead. "So what are you doing here?" he continued.

Yuki only shrugged. "You know… Akito called," he simply explained.

"Ah…" Haru confirmed. There was an awkward silence between them before Yuki broke it.

"How's Momiji?" he asked, curious about the blonde-headed younger Sohma.

Haru thought back to their last meeting… When Tohru's memories were… He mentally shook his head and replied, "He's doing fine I think… Been seeing Tohru at her work… I think he told her that they were friends in junior or something…but she seemed convinced."

Yuki smiled. "That's good…" he nodded to himself. It was good that at least one of the Sohma's were keeping in contact with her… At least… "It's only been a week huh?"

Haru nodded solemnly. "Yeah… Only a week… And so much has happened…"

Yuki nodded in agreement.

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the short chapter… Anyways, sorry for the late update. I'll try and update Discovered Talent next. So all of you who really liked that ficcie, you'll finally get to read the second and final part of it! I may include an epilogue if I get enough reviews asking for one. : )

Oh yes, thank you to all the reviewers:

**Imi-chan**

**CorruptionGlare** (Oooh! I like your pen name!)

**Shel Luvah Of Pepsi**

**Mad4Anime**

**Jinxed4ever**

**Orangesodap0p**

**Year of da cat fanclub**

**Cocoke5**

**StarFire and Sakura**

So please review if you want an update. Thank you!


	9. Chapter 9

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or Pocky. I love Pocky though… ((sticks a chocolate stick in mouth))

Chapter 9:

When he talked with Haru that morning, later that day, he couldn't help but remember all the things that happened right after graduation.

Graduation… That was supposed to be a time of happiness. Happy that you're being let out of school – forever, well, maybe not forever but mostly likely. But graduation was a time to remember all the happy times you had in high school.

That's what Yuki did.

Graduation forced you to remember the happy moments, the sad moments, all those moments. They were important whether you liked it or not.

Though sometimes, it was best to forget everything.

That's what happened to Tohru.

It wasn't like she _chose_ to forget. But it wasn't like she was forced to forget anyways.

It was simply, because it was the best for everyone. It was for the best that she would leave the Sohma's, forget about their curse and everything about it.

Maybe it wasn't for the best though.

Nowadays, Yuki truly wanted her back. He truly wished he was in high school again. He truly wished he had gotten to know her better. Too many regrets had been hung on a web above him.

No doubt that Kyo had even more regrets hanging above him, laughing and mocking him to death.

He just wished for another year of high school. He just wished for more…

…more…

…more time…

Yuki shook his head and tried to get his running train of thoughts to stop. Was there a possible yet logical way to break the curse? He now truly wanted to be free.

He frowned and his eyebrows narrowed as he continued his way towards this room from Akito's. It was that far but he just had to go to the kitchen and get a drink of water. Or maybe it was just him spacing out and going there unconsciously. He sighed as he thought back to when they had arrived to the main house after graduation.

_Tohru, Kyo and Yuki stood in front of the main house doors. The heavy wooden doors spelled doom out for the three of them. They had spent so much time together… Tohru tighten her grip on Kyo's hand and gulped. She knew that her memories would be erased and she would never get to tell Kyo that she loved him._

_Yuki watched the two of them glance at each other before Shigure came and led Akito away. And then he saw… Akito was laughing manically outside but his eyes looked a bit…distanced. Yuki didn't have time to react to that because Hatori was now leading the three of them another way. _

_He had heard that Kyo would be locked up some time later. _

_Kyo clung tightly to Tohru's hand as they and Yuki followed Hatori to an empty room. It was where everyone's memories were to be erased. Kyo's first thought was to run away, but he didn't want to back down from a challenge. His pride was at stake. _

_There, Hatori only beckoned Tohru to follow him. Tohru turned to take one last glance at Kyo and Yuki and finally tried so hard to let her death grip go. She even started to stare at her fingers, as if willing them to let go but her fingers didn't obey. Finally, her other hand reached for the other and she pried them apart. _

_Of course, only Yuki and Kyo noticed. Kyo stared at Tohru with deep sorrow. He truly didn't want to let her go. As she finally freed her hand, Kyo made a grab for her arm and one last time, he bent down and kissed her freely on her soft lips. _

_Yuki and Hatori didn't look surprise. In fact, the both of them looked away. Hatori, wishing to be anywhere but there, and Yuki, wishing to be with Machi at the moment. _

_As the two broke apart, Tohru went to the waterworks and her eyes welled up with salty liquid. She turned away from Kyo and Hatori started towards the empty room – with Tohru following. Without another word, Tohru waved good-bye and followed the doctor. _

_The time between Tohru entering the room and leaving took a while. It was the most awkward conversation that Yuki had ever had with the cat alone. He truly believed that it was the first conversation he had with him. _

_At first, it went like, "How do you think the others are going to react to Tohru?" as Kyo first asked. He, surprisingly spoke up first. Yuki only looked surprised at the words but answered despite of it. _

"_I suppose we'll all cry."_

_Kyo didn't react to anything. He didn't even respond after that at all. After about a half an hour or so, Yuki had gotten a bit uncomfortable and wanted to know what was going on inside. After all, it didn't take anymore than two minutes to erase a person's memories. Kyo however, stayed put. _

_When the door had finally opened, Hatori came out first. He had two maids come out of nowhere went and picked up an unconscious Tohru. Her chocolate brown hair had flown over her face, covering her tear-stained cheeks. _

_Kyo started to go towards her, but Hatori had shook his head. "Akito would not approve of it," he had said simply and not another word left his lips that day. _

_Surprisingly, Akito allowed Yuki and Kyo to stay by Tohru's bedside until she had awoken. Maybe it was mercy or just the fact that he wanted the both of them to suffer because of the fact that one of the most important people in their lives had been taken away. _

_But when she woke up, she was her normal, cheerful self again. It pleased Yuki to see her like that. To see her carefree once more. To see her… with genuine happiness. Not the fake, strain smile he had seen earlier today. _

_They told her that she had passed out on the sidewalk on her way to a friends' and Yuki just happened to see her and helped her out since she was a classmate. That made sense and she seemed to buy it. _

_But her next words pained Yuki greatly. "Thank you so much Sohma-kun!" she had said smiling her huge grin once more. "I appreciate it very much!" she turned to face Kyo, "Thank you to you too, Sohma-san!"_

_Kyo also felt the pain. _

_Not being called by your name. Being forgotten. Being erased from one's mind. That hurt a lot. It was like… You never existed. You were never there. You were just **somebody else**. _

_Kyo never wanted to feel that again. _

_Of course, soon Tohru was on her feet and they were waving good-bye to her. For the last time. That was the last time they saw her that happy. _

_As soon as Tohru disappeared from sight, Akito appeared out of nowhere behind Yuki and his fingers made they way towards Yuki's neck. Yuki had froze and let Akito lead the way towards his chambers to have a little "talk" about what was happening. _

_Akito had glanced at Kyo before leaving though. That curve on the side of his creepy smile had sent shivers down Kyo's spine. _

_Hatori led Kyo into the small "cage" and soon Kyo found himself unable to move freely anymore. _

_The day that he graduated, was the day that spelled out doom for him. The day that he graduated, was the day that he lost Tohru, lost his freedom, and now, he almost lost his pride. _

There was a deafening bang and he felt a sharp pain on his forehead.

"Yuki? What are you doing?" asked a curious voice. The owner's head tilted a little bit to add to the cute effect.

Yuki looked up from his sitting position. He rubbed his sore forehead and quietly, asked, "Momiji? What are you doing here?"

The blonde locks on the boy's head seemed to be laughing at the fallen boy, "Aw! Yuki doesn't want me here?" he asked in a sing-song voice. His bottom lip stuck out.

Yuki slowly got up and brushed off the invisible dirt. "Momiji, this is close to Akito's place. You know how picky he is when it comes to visitors," Yuki reasoned.

Momiji only grinned. "Who said I was visiting him?"

That got Yuki thinking. "Ah!" he realized, "then come in!" His hand reached for the sliding door and he slid it open. He invited his younger cousin in. Once inside, Yuki decided to get right to the point.

"How is she?"

A mischievous grin met Yuki's question. "Ahem," Momiji coughed as if waiting for something.

"Oh yeah…" Yuki remembered and got up. He disappeared for a moment and came back with a small box. "You know Momiji, you'll get fat if this keeps up."

"JA! I know! But us, Germans, don't get fat as easily! (1)" he replied as he quickly opened the package of Pocky. Once the box was opened, he tore off the seal for the plastic and stuck a chocolate stick in his mouth. "YUM!"

"My question…?" Yuki reminded the hyper blonde.

"Oh yeah!" Momiji said and got to the point. "She's doing GREAT! She's gotten so good at doing art nowadays! I think she's going to be a painter! I saw some of her artwork and it's so awesome! OH! You know what, Yuki? I'll ask her if I could keep a painting and I'll bring it and show you and the other Sohma's! Oh! That'd be so cool! Kyo would love it too! OH! I'll ask her to make a painting JUST for him! I'm sure he'll appreciate!"

Yuki watched the hyper blonde blab on and on about Tohru. His head rested on his chin as he switched his gaze. He stared out the window. It was still hot and sticky outside as it was summer. But he didn't been outside the Sohma estate yet and he was itching to go.

"Momiji," he interrupted the blonde.

The younger cousin stopped. "What is it Yuki?" he asked.

"I'd like to go out for a little while. Mind watching out for Akito for me?" he asked.

"YES SIR! DONE SIR!" Momiji immediately replied, as he made a salute. Yuki played along and did the same.

"Thank you, Momiji."

--

He turned over and laid on his right side this time. His other side was starting to get numb anyways… He sighed. It was days like these that he wished that even Akito was here.

Yes, he was already that crazy.

But he really wanted human contact. Plus, it would keep his mind off the fact that he had nothing to do in this stupid, god-forsaken, damned –-

What was that?

A feather had floated down from the bars of his window and he had looked up just in time to see it. His arm automatically reached for it and he held it in front of his face. It was, indeed, a feather. But a feather that he had never seen before. It was pure white, the end was long like a swan's or a goose's feather, but the strange markings on it told him otherwise.

The markings, in fact, were pretty hard to describe. It was a fancy heart in the near bottom, with leaves or diamond-shaped markings around the sides. The markings were pink.

But one of the most peculiar things about the feather was the fact that it glowed.

He sat up straight, still holding the feather. This was no ordinary feather. It couldn't be coincidence that he had found it – nor was it that the feather had floated down directly and into his barred windows.

It was a sign.

But of what? A sign that he would be freed? A sign that the curse was breaking? A sign that –-

No, he shouldn't even be thinking that. It was ridiculous after all! His curse wouldn't break… He would forever be cursed as the god-damned cat that everyone looked down on…

Except _her_…

His memories of her flooded through him like an open facet. From the first he met her (while breaking the roof at that), to the time at the hot springs, to the time they had the play (in which she said she would mind that fact that he would be gone), to the time they went out just to shop (in which Yuki had deliberately left because he felt the tension was too much), to the time he thought of himself as a pervert (yes, a dirty old pervert like Shigure), to the very last time he saw her – lying there… on the bed…

He sat up and leaned against the cold surface of the wall behind him. He clutched the feather in one hand and held it close to his chest.

How he missed Tohru…

**Author's Note:** I'm sooooo sorry! I'M SO SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! First, I had a minor case of writer's block, then my internet went POOF, so I started reading some new manga, then my internet came back to me, so I started to watch some anime that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY liked, and THEN my internet ran away again… ;-; I'm so sorry once again! I'll work hard on the next chapter! I'll try! I will!

Oh yeah… My sister and I got DDR: Mario Mix, it's fun. XD So we just started playing that.

Thank you to all reviewers!

**Shel Death By Spork- ** Hopefully, I'll put Tohru in the next chapter. Thank you for reviewing!

**midnight shadow 333-** I'll try too. I might… Hm… Let's see… There _are_ some characters that will be in here no matter what… Actually, screw that, I don't even know what I'm writing. XD Thank you for reviewing! BTW, do you have any request on character appearances?

**jinxed4ever-** Hai, hai! Here's your update! Thank you for reviewing!

**fanggrl**- Did I? I'm sooooo sorry! It's just that whenever I get so many hits and then when I look, there's only one reviewer, so I'm thinking, "Is it not good enough that people want to review?" I want to know what my readers think… If that's a good explanation… ((sweat drop)) Thank you for reviewing!

**dark-ninja-ayana- **Ah, it's okay. Thank you for telling me that, and thank you for reviewing! I love your pen name, too.

**Hiroko Yamashita-** Wow, long reviews. Thank you for reviewing every (was it?) chapter with each review being as long as, well, more than usual. Thank you so much! I love hearing your thoughts on each chapter, and I'm glad that you liked it despite some of the things happening. XD ((trying to sound intelligent)) Alas, I'm really as sorta thick in the head, and my sister tells me that I space out too much… (Sister: ((whistles))) Ahaha… Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH for every one of your reviews!

**ATTENTION READERS!** If you can guess where the feather came from, you'll receive…uh… an internet cookie and a character of choice (from Fruits Basket of course) to appear in this ficcie here!

Anyways, thank you for reading this. Review if you want the author to keep motivated to review. : D Oh yeah, BTW, don't expect the next chapter to be updated as quick. Sorry.


	10. Chapter 10

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: .agnam revossorc eht ro teksaB stiurF nwo ton od I

Chapter 10:

Irony was funny.

That was what Yuki thought as he walked around the town, looking for a nice, quiet place where he could be alone for a while.

Like, perhaps, the most important person to you had forgotten you. How would it feel? Would it sting like crazy? Would it feel as if they piercing you with a thousand sharp needles? Or would it be knives? Or swords? Or perhaps, it might feel numb to you.

Perhaps you had forgotten too.

What would it be like? To have the most important person to you forgot you? What would it be like to be…

Kyo?

Surely, Kyo was having a lot to deal with these past few days. He was still talking – a good sign that he wasn't going insane like some of the other cats – and he still had his mind intact.

Yuki strolled into a small café and went up to the cashier, asking for a cup of mocha. Yes, it was one of his favorites. And he had remembered to bring his cell phone and a small laptop computer.

Thankfully, the small café had free wireless internet as long as you bought something. He had been here once or twice before. Back when it was still before graduation. Whenever Shigure would leave for the main house, leaving the three of them alone, he found the tension much too well, much to handle and excused himself.

He had left them alone, flustering about. He had found this small café then, and entered, looking around. A waitress had greeted him and immediately, asked him what he wanted. He had been really surprised, but he asked what they had here since it was his first time.

Yes, he fell in love with the mocha. No, really, it was a joke. But soon, he came here whenever he felt that same "rough" atmosphere with Kyo and Tohru. He would usually leave and excuse himself, and he always ended up here.

He then started to bring his laptop and found that surfing around the net wasn't so bad. He had found a couple of sites he really liked but that was all.

He walked over to an empty seat and sat down, placing his laptop gently onto the cool, hard surface. He then, lifted up the screen and turned it on. Time to do a little surfing.

While going through his favorite sites and checking his email, his mind began to wonder back to Kyo and Tohru's dilemma.

Tohru was an important person to Kyo Sohma. She was the one who accepted him, and loved him for who he was – not pity.

She was an important person to all the cursed Sohma. She changed their lives and helped us live through it.

Yuki thought, while clicking on his mail icon, if it wasn't for Tohru, he would have never join the student council…

…Would have never met Kakeru…

…Would have never met Naohito or Kimi…

…and most importantly, never would have met Machi…

He never would have smiled and laughed so carefree if it wasn't for her.

Kisa would have never stopped not talking; Hiro wouldn't have become her knight in shining armor; Momiji would have kept all those secrets locked up tightly, yearning for a leaning shoulder; Hatori would have never smiled; Rin would have been still independent – without Haru; Haru would have still been alone; Kagura would have never realized that she truly loved Kyo, and Ayame…

He and Ayame would have never been true brothers…

Yuki wanted to laugh, but he felt he couldn't. There was no way he would laugh in public where everyone would stare at you –

OH.

This was what Tohru wouldn't have wanted him to do. She wouldn't have wanted him to mentally debate whether or not to laugh in front of these strangers. Just go ahead and laugh, it was okay…

So he laughed.

Surprisingly, no one stared at him like he was crazy – all thought he had read something funny on his laptop. He reached for a sip of his mocha.

Funny how life was. How one girl could do so much when not even several could?

He set down his cup of mocha and this time, reached for his cell phone. He flipped open the lid and dialed the familiar number.

Such a familiar number…

--

Hm… Warmth, comforting, and happiness was what she felt as she hugged her warm blankets closer to her body. It was warm, yes, the thick blankets wrapping around her like a mother holding a child. Those several moments of happiness were interrupted by a soft ringing.

_Ringing?_

Kuragi Machi sleepily rolled over from laying on her stomach to her side, one arm groping her table that resided next to her bed for her now-ringing cell phone. Once she grasped the annoying object, she was about to press the snooze button when she realized that it was a vacation term and that she has no school at all.

She held up the cell phone while staring at it, her sleepy mind trying to process what was happening. The phone kept ringing as she stared at it when all of a sudden, everything seemed to click into her mind and she looked at the display screen to see who was calling at… She glanced at her clock. At… NOON!

She turned away from the clock, horrified that she had slept in so late. Then she realized that the phone was still ringing, and quickly (clumsily) accepted the call. "Moshi-Moshi?" she stammered out, voice hoarse as she had been sleeping.

"Ah! M-Machi!" a familiar male's voice rang through the small machine, "I-I was wondering if you'd like to meet in town somewhere," he asked, inviting her to an obvious date. "A-Ano, you don't have to, but—"

She interrupted him before he could go any further, "I'll go," she replied, "I'd love to." Inside, she felt a warm, fuzzy feeling as she answered her crush's invite. "Where do we meet?" she asked, trying not to sound excited.

Yuki laughed on the other end, obviously she didn't hide her excitement well enough. "Ah, you know that café pretty close the school? The one that allows you to bring laptops and such?" he asked. Machi could imagine him smiling on the other end.

He was such a nice guy, so kind yet weak as a deer until… Kakeru came. Realizing that she had been spacing out, Machi nodded and then almost purposely hit herself on her head because he couldn't see what she was doing so she quietly replied a small "yes".

"Good, is it alright if we meet there?" he asked as Machi heard a few clicks over on the other end. She wondered what he was doing…

"Yes," she answered, "It'd be fine." She heard him chuckling and then both hung up. But she stared at the phone long after she hung up, realizing that they were actually going to meet somewhere…

…Just the two of them…

In other words, a date. She felt an immediate rush of blood to her cheeks. Well, they did like each other, she thought to herself as she remembered the incident at the end of his graduation. He disappeared so quickly afterwards.

She then realized that today would be the first day she met him outside school and after graduation.

What a dream…

--

The wheels of the cart rolled as the two people pushing it pulled to a stop at the end of the darkened hallway and started to dump its contents out. It was late at night now and Momiji was helping Tohru out at her job.

"Thank you Momiji-kun!" Tohru thanked the Sohma happily as she raised an arm to wipe the sweat forming on her forehead. The blond only smiled and nodded.

"It's not a problem at all!" he answered cheerfully. _The only problem is that you lost your memories or us…_ He thought to himself quietly as a solemn expression overtook him. He lowered his head.

"Eh… Momiji-kun?" Tohru asked Momiji, tilting her head a bit, wondering what was wrong. "Is there something wrong?"

Momiji looked up with a bright smile and cheerfully, once again, smiled and answered, "Nope! I'm just fine!" He shook his head and then he was hit by sudden inspiration.

"Oh! Tohru! Why don't you take a day off tomorrow so we can go somewhere?" he asked cheerfully, tugging at the tight collar. He had switched to the boy's uniform for some time now…

Tohru's smile faltered for a minute before she replaced it. She shook her head, "I'm sorry Momiji-kun, but I'm afraid not…" she replied softly, disappointing the poor cursed-bunny.

_Why?_

_Why can't you remember? Why? You were the only ones to accept us – accept Kyo's true form and even love him. Why did everything turn out this way? Why?_

Momiji's eyes saddened before they began to continue to work in silence. "Tohru…" he whispered to himself, "Why?"

"Hm?" Tohru asked, hearing that Momiji had muttered something. She looked up from what she was doing. "What's wrong?" she asked concerned. Momiji shook his head and this time, he couldn't stop it.

He started to cry again.

Tohru seemed to melt for a second before, without realizing it, she lunged at him, hugging him close to her. She didn't even realize what she was doing.

Momiji could only wait for the transformation. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and waited. Was it being delayed? What was happening?

Then he felt it.

He wasn't certain how to describe the strange yet incredible feeling. It was like everything on his shoulders was being lifted – as if he had been freed of something…

Freed…

…of the curse.

Shaking, Momiji reached for Tohru and hugged her tightly. So it was true. His curse…

…Had been broken.

Momiji wanted to yell, to cry out for happiness. He wanted to do something, he smiled. He was finally free. And yet…

He felt lonely.

He no longer had the same burden as the rest of the zodiac, no longer belonged, no longer was the cursed rabbit of the zodiac. He was a human.

Smiling to himself, he felt Tohru let him go and he looked at her. "Thanks for…comforting me," he smiled and thanked her. He then got and said, "Well, I have to go or Papa will be mad at me," he explained. He smiled, wiped his tears away and gave Tohru a last hug.

"Thank you."

He had whispered that last sentence in hope that maybe Tohru knew what he meant. But somehow, he had doubt it. After all… Her memories were _erased_.

--

Tohru stared at her hands. She was shaking all over and crying. When she had hugged Momiji, she half-expected something to happen.

For him to transform.

She brought her hands up to her face, covering eyes from the dark.

Yes…

She still remembered. She had never forgotten. Hatori never erased her memories.

She brought her hands down, Hatori never erased her memories.

The floor was wet with tears.

But…

How did Momiji break the curse!

**Author's Note:** Not the longest chapter and I know everyone here, hates me. You want an update? Review then. Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed!   



	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: ** Enjoy this chapter! 

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: .agnam revossorc eht ro teksaB stiurF nwo ton od I

Chapter 11:

_When was it? When was it that Hatori had decided? Ah yes… It was in the beginning… After Hatori had escorted her into that room, he had…explained to her._

"_I will not be erasing your memories because I believe that you do not want your memoris to be gone. I shall spare you. However, if you do come back after this and tell anyone about it, I shall be **erasing** your memories. After I 'erase' your memories, please… do not look back. If you want Kyo to be freed, I suggest you take my advice."_

_All that was whispered into her ear as Hatori came in from behind. The room was dark, she remembered. She had started crying because all her memories would be erased…_

_Gone, disappeared. Kyo, just like that, would disappear from her memories._

_But…_

_Hatori had spared her from the pain of not remembering… However, everyone of the Sohma's thought that she had forgotten…_

_She remembered when she woke up about an hour later… _

_She remembered seeing Yuki's strain smile. She remembered him telling her that she had collapsed and that he had recognized her has one of his former classmates and had helped her._

_But she knew that wasn't true._

_Not true at all…_

_As soon as she left the estate, she ran._

_She ran away._

_She ran all the way to her Grandpa's. Hatori had already taken cared of her relatives by telling them that she wanted to let go after graduation. _

_They believed it._

_So she ran all the way to her room. Her now empty room that she owned all by herself. She remembered that her Grandpa had told her that her cousin had moved in somewhere…she couldn't remember that part._

_She remembered crying her heart out half lying on the bed, half sitting on the floor. _

_It was truly painful for the person whom she loved the most to think that she had forgotten._

_But the next day…_

_She got up on her legs and went to her job._

_She was so happy and surprised that Momiji had found her. _

_It was like old times…_

_Only… Momiji thought that she had forgotten. Momiji told her that they knew each other a bit last year and Momiji had just ran into her that day._

_She felt light as a feather._

_She felt so happy – so happy that she would hug him._

_She knew better than to hug him so she didn't try it then._

_But now… When she hugged him just now… _

_He didn't transform… How? Why? What about Kyo?! What did this mean?!_

_Never in her life had she ever been that confused. _

--

Sohma Yuki couldn't help but laugh at the Machi's sleepy face when she entered the café. Her delicate features were covered by her sandy black hair – which she did nothing to it (except a little brushing) – and she was carrying small handbag in which she probably threw a bunch of random stuff that she saw lying around her apartment into.

She gave a sigh as she plopped herself down in the seat across the cursed-mouse. "Why did you have to call so early?" she asked, giving into a yawn. She held a hand over her yawning mouth.

Yuki laughed again. "What are you saying is early? It's nearly noon!" he replied as he began to exit out of the programs in which he had been playing and toying around with to keep himself occupied until Machi came.

Machi suddenly woke and watched Yuki's face as he clicked the "X" button on the top right hand corner of all the windows with interest. "What are you doing?" she asked suddenly as she got up around the table and sat next to him, leaning over to watch.

He didn't reply. He kept clicking out all the "X" buttons – which was quite a few – and noticed that Machi was abnormally close to him. Maybe she was still half-asleep? "Um… Just closing all the windows out…" he finally replied as Machi took a seat next to him.

She nodded in response and then, she asked, "Could I check my emails?" After watching Yuki finish closing out all the windows, he opened up Mozilla Firefox and scooted over for her to use the laptop.

Moving her finger skillfully over the small square pad, she clicked the address box and quickly typed in "www . yahoo . com". Yuki smiled. "U-Um…" she suddenly said as she typed in her username and looked over at him as if saying that she was going to type in her password.

"Oh!" Yuki realized as he turned away to look at his surroundings instead while Machi typed in her correct password without the tension of having someone watching.

He noticed now that there were more people due to the time. But still far less than what he had expected. Maybe this could prove some useful timing for some privacy… If that made any sense at all…

The waiters and waitresses behind the counter were either filling up drinks or wiping the counter with a damp rag. Then it hit him. He spun around and asked, "Machi… Do you want anything?"

Machi looked up from reading an email from her half-brother. "Eh… Um… Sure?" she answered quite timidly.

Yuki smiled and he raised a hand, motioning a waiter to come over to take their order. The waiter came with a notepad in hand and asked politely. Yuki had to nudge Machi in order for her to stop stuttering and give the waiter her order.

After their orders were taken (Yuki wanted some more Mocha), Yuki went to watching Machi answer a few emails ignoring the ones that had the letters "FWD" in the subject box. She also ignored the rest of the emails from Kakeru with the exception of the first one which she found out was just a teaser.

"President…" Machi started suddenly, eyes still on the laptop screen.

Yuki turned around to look at her at the word "President". He looked very surprised. "Eh? 'President'? I'm not that old am I?" he asked as he took a sip of his mocha.

Machi felt her cheeks heat up at his simple comment. God, the things he said were so simple and yet they made her cheeks go through a lot of torture. "N-No… I meant… Like in the Student Council…" she managed to stammer out.

"Ah…" Yuki said and gave a sigh, "Machi… I've already graduated…" he reminded her as he brought the cup down from his lips.

Machi turned to look at him when he had sighed. She quickly turned away for fear of him realizing that she was blushing and that he would start to tease her. Which by the way, Yuki might very well do now a days…

"Sorry…" she muttered as she turned to look at the small screen once again, "Sohma-kun…"

"Didn't I tell you to call me by name?" was Yuki's response to the apology.

She looked as if she wanted to apologize again but Yuki gave her a look and she ended up looking away – cheeks flaming.

"What is it?" he asked suddenly as she turned away.

There was an awkward silence between them as customers came and went. "D-Did you…really mean _that_?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Mean what?" Yuki asked innocently. Machi resisted the urge to turn away. The ex-Student Council President just looked… So...!! ARGH!!

"That…" she started, trailing off, "you-liked-me-and-all." The last phrase was pretty awkward and she had said that pretty fast. She wasn't even sure if he had heard her right.

Yuki only blinked once, then twice and smiled, "Oh that!" he realized, "Of course! I mean every word."

Perhaps he had heard her wrong? Machi thought as she looked up at his face with embarrassment. "Eh… Did you hear what I said?" she asked.

Today, she was talking a lot.

And I mean, a LOT.

Almost as sudden as Yuki had called Machi, he suddenly jolted up as if he remembered something.

"AH! I almost forgot!" he shouted, catching the attention of nearly everyone in the restaurant. "I'm sorry Machi, but I have to go now," he apologized, getting up, putting on his coat and bowing.

"You can borrow the laptop!"

Machi stared as he left in a hurry with unblinking eyes.

Okay…So her boyfriend – could she call him that now? – was a bit weird…

She raised an eyebrow – too weird.

Click!

--

Machi sighed and quickly started to pack up the laptop and its contents. Luckily, her new boyfriend had left the case he usually carried it so she set the laptop in, gently and carefully.

She would make a trip to the library then… It was summer break and the term wouldn't start until a few more weeks but she thought it was best to study a little bit…

And maybe get a little more time online…

The walk was short seeing as the library was pretty close to the café – now she knew why he liked it so much. Since the library was close and all, he could study and get all the mochas he wanted.

She smiled at his "obsession" with it.

Opening the door with ease, she quickly headed towards the back of the library – where she wouldn't be disturbed and set up the laptop.

Soon, she was absorbed in the machine and found herself rather attached. It was fun, certainly but she had to get going in studying.

So she started to dig through her bag to look for the textbook. AH! What was that? She thought to herself as she felt something rather…soft… did she have her… - she blushed – bra in here?

No, it can't be, she shook her head and pulled the soft thing out, shutting her eyes in the process, hoping that it wasn't.

She slowly opened and found that it, indeed, wasn't. But she frowned and stared at the soft object.

Instead, it was a pure white feather with strange markings on it. Her frowned curved even more downwards. What was this thing? Feeling the need to keep it, she tucked it in her bag once more, hoping that she would remember that she had it.

Elsewhere, the sky started to twist and turn and soon, was stretched so much towards the ground, it blew up into a bubble-like thing and popped, leaving the sky back to normal and four travelers.

Strangely enough, there was no one nearby to recall that incident.

**Author's Note: **Again, short chapter. Sorry… I just… Can't really write any long Fruits Basket lately… Been into Prince of Tennis… OO! Oh and this will be on hold until further notice. Also, un-betaed. Will be replaced once betaed.

Please comment.


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter is dedicated to Adi88. : D**

Shattered Dreams

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or the strange travelers.

Chapter 12:

Akito Sohma watched the birds disinterestedly as he walked down the porch, ignoring the worried calls of his servants. Reaching out an arm to let a bird gracefully fly down and land on his hand, he gazed at the backyard.

…and froze.

The bird gave a tiny tweet and flew away. An image of 12 of the 13 Juunishi fleeted across Akito's eyes as he watched a yellow bunny dance in front of his eyes, as if trying to cheer him up. The bunny gave a small smile before his eyes filled with tears and slowly disappeared.

Without warning, Akito's eyes started to fill with salty drops of liquid.

"Akito-sama?!" a worried servant's voice called after the head.

Akito quickly wiped the tears away and growled, "Get me Momiji Sohma! NOW!"

The servant nodded, scared of what the head of the family might do and scurried off to find the ex-cursed rabbit.

The bond was breaking.

Akito stared up at the sky with tear-filled eyes.

--

"S-Syaoran-kun?" a fragile yet musical voice called. A brown haired boy with amber eyes turned to look at the _princess_.

"AH! Sakura-hime! What is it?" he asked as he walked over to the brown haired girl with emerald eyes.

She smiled wryly and shook her head. "Never mind… Where are Moko-chan, Kurogane-san and Fai-san?" she asked, looking around for her other three companions.

The boy called Syaoran only smiled in return and explained, "They went to explore the area."

"Do you know where we are?" asked Sakura faintly as she sat down beneath a tree with the boy.

Syaoran shook his head, "but the language seems familiar to Kurogane-san's and ours…"

Sakura smiled, "Thank you…" She moved closer to the boy.

"Eh? For what?!"

When Sakura didn't answer, Syaoran looked over at the princess and almost laughed.

She had fallen asleep.

--

The door to the cell in which Kyo Sohma resided creaked open for the first time that day. Kyo glanced disinterestedly at the newcomer and went back to staring out the barred windows.

"Oi stupid cat…" Kyo's greatest rival, Yuki called as he set down a tray of food. "Your lunch's here…"

"Shut up…" Kyo answered. He didn't move. He didn't feel like it. Besides, he hadn't wanted to eat until the damn rat was gone.

"I'm ordered to wait until you've eaten," Yuki said, dissolving Kyo's thoughts of eating in peace.

Kyo rolled over from the spot on the cool ground where he'd laid, "Fine, fine…" he muttered as he got up and walked over to the tray.

Yuki was now sitting in a corner, looking very bored.

He picked up the pair of chopsticks that had been laid there for him and snapped it in half. Che, figures it would be the cheap-assed bamboo type… Shaking out of his thoughts, he started to eat, self-conscious of the fact that he was eating in front of his rival.

Soon the lunch was finished with and the pair of bamboo chopsticks laid messily on the bento. "Finished, happy?" Kyo asked, snarling at his rival.

Yuki stood up and nodded. He then walked over to the door as Kyo stared incredulously at him.

"You make me finish it and you don't even take the tray?" Kyo shouted as he pushed the tray towards the cursed rat.

Raising an eyebrow, the silver-haired male picked up the tray and left.

A single piece of paper fluttered from the tray and landed in front of Kyo. By the time the red-head noticed it and was about the call his rival back, Yuki hadn't heard.

Kyo stared at the piece of paper for a while before reaching and picking it up. It wasn't that big nor was it that small. About half a size of paper, not counting the fact that it was folded up. So it must be a regular size.

He quietly applauded himself. Gently and slowly, almost as if he was afraid, he lifted the pages up and glanced at it.

It was a note…

Addressed to _him_…

From… - he glanced at the bottom –

**That damn rat.**

He would have crushed the paper and thrown it out the window except for the fact that Yuki even bothered to send a note… He frowned and read its contents.

A few seconds later, Kyo stared shell-shocked at the note.

Yuki… He wouldn't…? They wouldn't _dare_ would they?!

--

"Uwah! So cute! Brother and sister, together like that!" Satsuki, Hiro's mother proclaimed as she ran off to get a camera.

Hiro stared worriedly at his mother, prancing down the stairs like that…was well, dangerous… "Careful!" he shouted after her. In reply, she only gave a careless wave and Hiro glanced back at his sister.

The baby, Hinata was resting beside a couch. Since he could very well get close to her… He sighed, wishing to hold his little sister… Maybe… Just this once… He thought as his arms reached out for his little sister.

They wrapped around the small bundle and he carefully held her tightly, as if she was precious gold.

It was only when he was caressing her cheek when it finally hit him.

It was as if the spirit of the sheep that resided with him was finally giving him a last hug and lifting. He felt it… He had lived with the spirit so long that… It was getting to be comfortable with spirit that he had felt it immediately.

Only, it hadn't registered in his mind at the point. His sister was smiling at him and he was smiling through tears.

At long last, he had been freed from the curse.

But, his mind flashed back to Kisa and her curse, it wasn't fair… The one he loved was still cursed and he wasn't – he couldn't hug her…

"Hiiiirrrooooo!! Hiro-ch—Eh? What's wrong?" Satsuki stopped suddenly in front of the doorway, noticing that Hiro was now crying. She walked over to him and noticed a bundle in his arms.

She gasped and hugged both her children.

"M-Mom…"

"It's alright…"

Hiro cried.

--

Akito looked up at the ceiling. He had been pacing, waiting for Momiji to arrive from wherever he had been. But… It was just like that time… He had awakened to find Kureno crying – eyes spilling out tears of happiness.

And now Momiji and Hiro had gone to join him.

Three of the 13 Juunishi were now free from the curse. He smiled bitterly and wondered what would happen if all the Juunishi were freed.

Where would he be?

What would be left of him?

Shaking his head, he turned around to face the door just as Momiji Sohma came in.

"Akito, you asked for me?" the half-German boy asked, tilting his head to the side as if he didn't know what he was in for. Like a child who had been caught doing something naughty and didn't know what it was.

Akito gazed at him apathetically and in a soft broken whisper, he spoke, "Momiji… Your curse…"

Momiji's eyes widened and he looked surprised. "Y-You know Akito?"

"I felt it." Was Akito's simple reply.

The blonde looked away from the head of the family and instead, cast his gaze at a nearby vase. "I'm sorry Akito but… I don't want to stay… Not like Kureno… I want to leave freely."

Akito knew this would happen. There was nothing to stop this from happening. He crouched into a sitting position and pulled his knees to his chest on the windowsill, head laying against his knees.

"Fine."

Again, the blonde looked surprised. "W-What? Really? I'm free? Just like that?" he asked, smiling cheerfully. Now he could hug Tohru and not get in trouble!

"You heard me." Akito replied, not daring to repeat. He was afraid to loosing more, "But on one condition…"

Momiji's shoulders drooped a bit. "What?"

"Visit me every now and then."

Momiji's smile brightened and replied, "Of course – you are the head! And besides, I was planning to do that anyways!" he cheerfully added as he bowed respectfully to Akito.

"_Danke schon!!!_ Thank you very much!" he gratefully thanked him and left the room in a hurry.

Alone in the darkened chambers of his room, Akito cried himself to sleep.

**Author's Note:** Yet another short chapter. I'm surprised I even finished this. XD Ah wells, hope you enjoyed it! And in the next chapter, another zodiac member will be released! ((wink)) Oh and Momiji said just that. "Danke schon" is "Thank you very much". Since he's German and all… ((is taking German))

So thoughts, comments, advice?


End file.
